Black to move and win.
This was an actual position between So and Meier. Black was not able to find the winning plan. Can you find it without computer assistance?
GM Wesley So – GM Georg Meier (NA Masters – game 2)
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Spectacular chess tactic
nope
Perhaps. My very first idea doesn’t really look all that good:
1. …..Qb4
2. Ke2 Rc2
3. Kf1 Qb2 (eyeing f2)
4. Qa6
White should be ok with Nd2 as well. Continuing:
4. …..g5
5. Qa1 Rf2
6. Kg1 Rg2
7. Kh1 Qe2 (attacking the knight)
8. Rd2 Rh2 (forced now)
9. Nh2
Or accept a draw by repetition. Continuing:
9. …..Qd2
10.Qa8 Kg7
11.Qf3
So, black has 3 pawns for a knight. I have no clue who is ahead in this final position, but this is clearly not the solution. White’s Kf1 on move 3, and Qa6 on move 4 are a bit of a bother. This suggested black might try Qa5 taking a6 from white. Let’s see where this landed me:
1. …..Qa5
2. Ke2 Rc2
3. Kf1 Qa2
4. Nd2
Ok, guess I don’t have anything yet.
Still not 100% sure. I definitely think the start has to be Qa6, but I think I have found a significant improvement for black at move 2:
1. …..Qa6
2. Ke2 Rc3
I simply can’t make Rc2 work. The idea of Rc3 is to get the white queen off the a6/f1 diagonal. Continuing:
3. Qe4
There are no other squares for the queen. Qd2 allows Rc2 pinning and winning the white queen for a rook. 3.Qb1 also looks losing: [3.Qb1 Qa6 4.Rd3 (or 4.Ke1 Nc2-+; or 4.Kd2 Qc4! 5.any? Rc2-+ 4. …Rb3! 5.Qd1 Qb5! and the coming Rb1 will win the white queen for a rook, too]. Continuing from 3.Qe4 above:
3. …..Qa6 (keeping an eye on a8)
4. Ke1
The alternatives look worse to me, but I will consider them later. Continuing:
4. …..Nc2
5. Kd2 Ra3
I looked at everything here, I think. White cannot take the knight with either the queen or the king: [6.Kc2?? Qc4 7.Kd2 (or 7.Kb2 Qc3 8.Kb1 Ra1#; or 7.Kb1 Rb3 8.Ka2/1 Qa3#) 7. …Ra2-+]; or [6.Qc2?! Ra2 7.Qa2 Qa2 8.Ke1 b5 and the passed pawn should prove decisive here.]. Best for white here? I don’t know for sure. Black is threatening to move the knight to b4 and then playing a move like Ra2:
6. Rc1 Nb4
And now what for white? All I can see is to put the knight on e1 so that he can play to c2 for a block, but this looks like it is going to fail:
7. Ne1 Ra2
8. Nc2 Qc4
9. g4
This is forced. Without this, black will play f5 driving the white queen from it’s protection of c2 and black will win a piece. Continuing:
9. …..g5 (g5 10.g5 maybe holds?)
10.f4
White is tied up in knots, eventually the alternatives will end up with the basic continuation below, I believe, since white should run out of moves:
10. ….f6
11.f5 e5
12.h3 b5 (just waiting)
13.h4 gh4
14.g5 fg5
15.f6
Now, black can just liquidate:
15. ….Nc2
16.Rc2 Rc2
17.Qc2 Qc2
18.Kc2 h3 and one of the black pawns will queen to win the game.
What is interesting to me is that white doesn’t seem have anything better than all the above pawn pushes giving black the decisive passers on the king side since none of his pieces can move without dropping the knight at c2, and the king only has Kd1. For example, from move 9 above:
9. …..g5
10.Kd1 Nd3 is going to win a rook at a minimum.
Note, there are probably a ton of holes in here- I really didn’t look too hard to see if white could avoid the passed pawns on the kingside, but I don’t think he can. I couldn’t cover everything, so I might have missed a stronger continuation for either player, but I like this line a lot, especially because of the zugzwang nature of it after black’s 8th move. All in all, white probably does best at move 6 to simply give up the queen for the rook and knight. A losing option, I think, but almost certainly better than what follows otherwise.
Anyone solve this one? After a few hours and still nothing. I see some checks here and there but I am always a step behind the white queen who is proving to be deadly in 2 moves.
1. …Qb4+ 2.Ke2 Rc3 3.Qb1 Qc4+ 4.Ke1 Nc2+ and it’s winning position for black.
1. …Qb4+ 2.Ke2 Rc3 3.Qb1 Qc4+ 4.Ke1 Nc2+ and it’s winning position for black. and if 4.Rb1 Qa5 5.Qd1 Qa6+ 6.Ke1 Nc2 with same winning idea as in previous line.
1. …Qa5+! 2.Ke2 Rc3 3.Qb1 Qa6+ 4.Ke1 (4.Rd3? Rc2+!) Nc2+ and it’s winning position for black.
1. …Qa5+ 2.Ke2 Rc3 3.Qe4! black can make it harder for white 3. …Qa6+ 4.Ke1 Nc2 5.Kd2 and white is better but it’s not so convincing to win for white
I suggest :
1. Rc8c2*
2. Kd2e1 2. Qb5b4
3. Nf3d2 3. Rc2c3
4. Qd3e2 4. Na1c2*
Now white is pressed back and black can push the pawn in b column down.
Anonymous,
I take it as a good sign that my two comments did not post yet. I think a check is the right start, but it is the second move and after that is the tricky part. For quite a while I was intent on continuing attacking the white king, looking for a “spectacular” mate, but realized at some point that attacking something else might prove more fruitful. I probably still haven’t found the spectacular part, but I hope I have at least the first 2 to 3 moves correct. In any case I have given up- I spent too long last night looking at this one.
To the anonymous commenter who suggested 1. …Rc2- I did look in this area last night:
1. …..Rc2
2. Ke1 Qb4
3. Nd2 Rc3
4. Qa6!
Double threat, Qa8+ and Qxa1. Black must either check from c2, play the knight to b3, or play Qa5 (or Qa3, but this will drop b6). I personally prefer Nc2+:
4. …..Nc2
5. Kf1
Here, Ke2 is probably ok, but I like the idea of getting the king to g1 in some cases. Continuing:
5. …..Na3
To prevent Rb1. Black could give the king a hole at g7 or h7, but I don’t like that much: [5. …h6 6.Rb1! Qa5 7.Qb6 and white is just up a pawn now].
6. Qa8 Qf8
7. Qf8 Kf8
8. Nb1 Rb3
9. Na3 Ra3
10.Rb1 and this is surely a drawn position.
I *think* I found a winning path. Not sure if I got it right..
1. Qa5+ Ke2
2. Rc3 Qe4
3. Qa6+ Ke1
4. Nc2+ Kd2
5. Ra3 Qxc2
6. Ra2 …
…etc.
Qb2 wins
Any of the legendary sisters care to chime in? So far, nothing has worked out including the best chess engines on the market – they all seem to drag into 35 moves plus after exchanging white queen for black rook and knight. I am sure this is not what Susan had in mind and she wrote “black to move and win”
I read the other solutions people have here but they are too long and yield nothing fascinating. We’re looking for 1-2 moves that made the game.