White to move. How should white proceed?
3r2k1/1p3p1p/b1n3p1/2Q2P2/6r1/p4N1q/P3RP1P/4R2K w – – 0 1
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1)Re8 Re8 2)Re8 Kg7 3)Qf8 Kf6 4)Qh8 Kf5 5)Re5 Ne5 6)Qe5 mate !!!
1. Re8+ Rxe8 2. Rxe8+ Kg7 3. Qf8+ Kf6 4. Qh8+ Kxf5 5. Re5+ Kf4 6. Qf6 checkmate.
Or 1. Re8+ Rxe8 2. Rxe8+ Kg7 3. Qf8+ Kf6 4. Qh8+ Kxf5 5. Re5+ Nxe5 6. Qxe5 checkmate.
From Michael,
This mate plays itself from the very first move:
1. Re8 Re8 (Kg7 2.Qf8 anyway)
2. Re8 Kg7
3. Qf8
The only winning move. The point is to keep the black king from finding a haven for a move on h5. Continuing:
3. …..Kf6
Now, if you like short, then you play 4.Re6 and 5.Qf7, if you like pretty, then you play 4.Qh8 5.Re5 and 6.Qe5. To each his own.
1. Re8+ Rxe8 2. Rxe8+ Kg7 3. Qf8+ Kf6 4. Kh8+ Kxf5 5. Re5+
Then either 5. … Nxe5 6. Qxe5# or 5. … Kf4 6. Qf6#
Hello
1. Re8+ , Rxe8
2. Rxe8+, Kg7
3. Qf8+ , Kf6
4. Qh8+ , Kxf5
5. Re5+ , Nxe5
6. Qxe5#
Greetings from Spain
the black queen is in trouble
So is the king.
1.Re8+ RxR
2.RxR+ Kg7
3.Qf8+ Kf6
4.Re6+ KxP
5.QxP++
1. re8+ rxr 2. rxr+ kg7 3. f6+ then…
if 3. kxf6 4. qe5 mate.
if 3. kh6 4. qf8+ kh5 5. re5+ rg5 6. rxr+ kh4 7. qh6 mate
1. Re8+ Rxe8
2. Rxe8+ Kg7
3. Qf8+ Kf6
4. Re6+ Kxf5
5. Qxf7#
Dear Yancey,
I thought that the shorter mate was also the prettier mate. As they say, it’s a matter of taste. But the subject of aesthetics in chess has not been investigated much. I guess what I like about the final position in the shorter solution is the snaky, zig-zag line up of the Black pieces on white squares, and the cooperating placement of the effective White pieces on the same colored squares.
If this discussion causes you to go out an have an ale or two, then so be it!
I came late.Nothing to say about solution.I doubt whether this should be counted as a problem because there is no problem at all. I think a good problem must have following.
(1) The solution especially the very first move must be unique, subtle and surprising.Sometimes the first move is eye catching and simple but the follow up is tricky.We can include them on sympathy note.
(2) In the solution tree at least in the main line white’s move at every step must be unique. There should be no alternatives.It is all the more better if alternatives are disastrous for white.On the other hand black may or should have alternatives but all of them between fire and frying pan.
(3) the solution and /or the final position must be pleasing,amusing and cute.
This problem fails in all accounts.
It is just a set of forceful moves.
In the same way a problem last week wherein white plays 1Ra7 pinning Q, alternative 1c5+ also works moves being interchanged.There 1c5+ d4 2Bxd4+ qxd4 3Ra7+ also worked.That also I am excluding from a good problem list.
Lucymarie,
I guess for me, I just liked the mate with only the queen and knight better than the one with the queen and rook. If I could have found a mate that sacrificed the queen, too, I would have “prettified” the line even if I had to go 5 more moves. However, I set up the position on the board for the short mate so that I could look at it physically (the mate was so easy to see that I didn’t have to use the board on this one for once), and I see your point about that the placement of the pieces. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” as they say.
My dear Mathew Eyer,
Where are your Eyes? How 4Qe5#? What the heck( or hell?) is black N at c6 doing? Is he not on payroll?
Hi Susan Polgar,
“Re8” .
By
Venky [ India – Chennai ]
Yancy… Two comments.
1. Nice one with the “short” mate.
2. You use a board? No wonder you get them right with so much detail most of the time. 😉 I don’t use a board for two reasons. First of all, I’m too lazy to set it up. Secondly, I figure working directly on the diagrams is a way to improve how I see and calculate the moves in my head.
Richard,
I will always study the position without the board and get the outline in my head of the solution, if I find it- I don’t always find them, though the practice of the last 2 years has greatly improved my ability to spot them. Now, if they are less than 5 moves deep, I can usually do the complete and detailed analysis without the board, but beyond 5 moves, I start to make egregious errors like forgetting pieces that have moved and so on, so I rely on my chessboard so that I can minimize these sorts of errors in my comments. I really only do the detailed analysis because Susan doesn’t provide solutions herself, and a number of commenters in the past used complain about this, and it is good practice to keep my skills in some sort of good shape, though I rarely play any more.