Thursday chess challenge

7 comments

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  Yancey Ward says:

  January 5, 2012 at 11:38 pm

  Interesting position. I stumbled into the solution:

  1. Qe6 Kf4 (only legal move)
  2. Rf1?

  This seemed obvious, but it only draws at best. Continuing:

  2. …..Bf3 (only legal move)
  3. Qa6

  I tried everything at this point, and am pretty sure white will lose with any other move. Continuing:

  3. …..Qd5

  Black might be able to play d3, but I don’t see any real reason to just concede the a-pawn. Continuing:

  4. Qd6

  I had high hopes for this line when I found it, but black need not take at d6- he can just unpin the bishop protecting the queen by playing Kg4:

  4. …..Kg4

  Or [4. …Qd6? 5.cd6 a1Q! (forced) 6.Ra1 Bg4! 7.Kf2! Ke5 8.Rg1 Bd7 9.Rg5 Kd6 10.Ke2 and only white can win this, but I am not sure it is a forced win for him- it is very complicated beyond this point.] Continuing from move 4 above:

  5. h3

  I don’t see any better move here- white cannot win the bishop at f3 with 5.Qg3+ since the rook cannot recapture at f3 without allowing a1Q+. Continuing:

  5. …..Kh4

  Here, Kh3 is probably ok, but I kind of like having the white h-pawn keeping a rook to be effectively placed at h1 in some of the lines I looked at.

  6. Qh6 and this will draw by repetition. I did look at 6.Kf2, but I just don’t see it working after black replies with b4 since the bishop is no longer pinned and can interpose at h5 if white fall back to 7.Qh6+.

  The most obvious place to improve this was move 2 for white since Rf1 seemed so obvious that I didn’t even really consider anything else. What is notable about the position is that white actually does have time for a more passive kind of move, and one suggested itself pretty quickly. From the top:

  1. Qe6 Kf4
  2. h3!

  A deadly move. Black has no checks on the white king and white is now threatening Qg4#. Black can try protecting g4 with either the queen or the bishop, but then white can play Qe5+ followed by Rf1#. There is no way to deal with both threats. The only somewhat different attempt is to block the rook cover of the e-file with the bishop, but this is also mate in 2 more:

  2. …..Be4
  3. Qe4 Kg3
  4. Qg4#

• Reply

  

  Anonymous says:

  January 6, 2012 at 3:31 am

  qh3

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  Gery says:

  January 6, 2012 at 4:08 am

  1. Qe6+ Kg4
  2. h3 threatening Qg4# or Rf1#

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  vignesh iyer says:

  January 6, 2012 at 6:22 am

  1. Qe6+ Kf4
  2. h3 (threatening Qg4#) Bd7
  3. Qe5+ Kf3
  4. Rf1#

• Reply

  

  Haridaran says:

  January 6, 2012 at 3:08 pm

  1. Qe6+ Kf4
  2. h3 with the idea of 3.Qg4 should mate soon.
  Black can try
  2….. Qd7 ( or 2…. Bd7)
  3. Qe5+ Kf3
  4. Rf1#

• Reply

  

  Anonymous says:

  January 6, 2012 at 5:16 pm

  1 . Qe6+ Kf4
  2 . h3! leaves Black Defenseless against threat of either
  Qg4 mate or Qe5 if eg

  2 …… Qd7 or Qc8 then
  3. Qe5+ Kf3
  4.Rf1 mate

  If 2 …… Bf3
  3 .Re5 mate

• Reply

  

  Bhavesh H Parekh Gondal says:

  January 6, 2012 at 6:33 pm

  Qe6Kf4 Qe5Kg4 ifKf3Qf5# Qg3Kh5 or Kf5 Qh3Kf6 or Kg6 Re6 ifKf7 Qf5 ifKg7Qh6