White to move. How should White proceed?
8/1p2Bn2/p5pp/P2R1p1k/7P/2r3PK/5P2/8 w – – 0 1
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It’s easy to focus on the fact that g4 would be mate if it was allowed, but I think the real solution is 1.Bf6 The rook has to stay on the 3rd rank, and white plays 2.Rd7 trapping the knight and winning.
1.Bf6 and Rd7
Definitely not easy to spot this one. I spent 20 minutes trying to make moves like Kg2 to work. The key weakness of the position for black, other than the hemmed in king, is the knight. It took me a while to notice this, and the fact that Bf6 hems the knight in, too, while clearing the way for Rd7 attacking it.
1. Bf6!
The rook cannot move off of the third rank due to the threat of g4#, but white is threatening Rd7 winning the knight. Does black have a reply? I don’t see really good one. Best I see is to threaten the f-pawn to relieve the pressure on the king and maybe generate some useful counterplay:
1. …..Rf3
2. Kg2 Kg4 (what else?)
3. Rd7 f4 (in for a penny, …..)
4. gf4 Rf4
5. Rf7
And, to be honest, I wouldn’t want to have to try to win this as white. The a-pawn is going to be hard to hang onto, and the kingside pawns are now a mess. This got me to wondering about possible third, or even second move alternatives for white. From the top:
1. Bf6 Rf3
2. Kg2 Kg4
And the only alternatives I saw were Rd4, Bg7, Bb2/a1, or Kf1. I eliminated Rd4 since black just plays f4, and now what does white have. Bg7 is interesting, though:
3. Bg7 f4?
4. Bh6! fg3 (Nh6?? 5.Rg5#)
5. Rd4 Kh5
6. Kf3 gf2
7. Kf2 Kh6
And this endgame looks more manageable, though no piece of cake. At move 4 in this line, black does no better with
4. …..Rb3
5. Bf4 g5
Black has nothing really better than this- any knight move is Rg5#, if the rook leaves the third rank for any other than the 2nd rank, f3 is mate, and Rb2 is met by Bd2 where Rb3 no longer holds after f3 and Rd4+. Continuing:
6. Bg5 Kh5 (white threats f3&Rd4)
7. Be3 Kg6 and white should win this. The main alternative after white’s 3.Bg7 seems to be:
3. …..g5
4. Rd7 gh4
5. gh4 Ng5 (it is lost anyway)
6. hg5 hg5
7. Bf6
White needs to preserve the a-pawn to have any real hope of getting a win, and moves like Rb7 and Bd4 (black can pin it with Rd3) won’t save it by my eye. Continuing:
7. …..Ra3 (gotta try something)
8. Bd8 and now white can play Bb6 and Rb7, and black will have mucho trouble holding on to his a-pawn, and once it falls, the game is over.
I have spent a considerable amount of time, but the best I see for white is that line above. Time for dinner and some alcohol.
I think a good idea is to look for Rd7-Bf8-Rh7-Rxh6.
1.Bf6 and if the Rook leaves the 3rd rank, then 2. g4#.
If the Rook stays on the 3rd rank, then 2. Rd7 and the Knight is doomed.
1. Bc5 threatening Be3 and g4#; if black plays 1..g5 then white wins with Rxf5. I don’t see any defense for black. White can almost ignore any other move and play Be3, so black will have to give the rook not to get mated
We can see that if not because of exposing K to Rc3 then g4 would lead to an immediate checkmate.
I believe the solution to try close that rank, by Bb4 => Rb3 then Bd2 followed by Be3.
g4 checkmate!
g4 checkmate
1. Bf6 Ra3
the rook must stay on the 3rd/4th rank to stop the mate threat.
2. Rd7 wins the Knight
Still tough when the a-pawn falls, but maybe this is the solution.
I kept looking for a way to mate but finally realized that 1 Bf6 ! Rb3 2 Rd7 wins a piece. You don’t have to checkmate right away.
-Justin Daniel
K G2 Black should resign if not
G4 Checkmate
If Zaphoid was going to be consistent, he might have seen that, under the same rules of chess that he is apparently using, Black can save himself with fxe4!?!?!?!?!
I think in this line:
1 Kg2 Rc4 2 f3 Rc2+ 3 Kh3 g4 4 Rxf5 Nh8 5 Rf6 gxh4 6 g4+ Kg5 7 Rf3+
Bye