White to move. It is not as simple as you may think. How should White proceed?
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White to move. It is not as simple as you may think. How should White proceed?
It’s indeed not that simple…
After only a few seconds, the eye goes like: Qh7+ Be7 Qxe7 Qxe7 Nc8+ Kb7 Nxe7
…but then black plays …b4!
Hmmm…then what….?!?
I agree, its not so simple. For the same reasons as above I cannot find better than…
Qh7+ Be7 then Nf5. White has a clear advantage but the position still requires careful play.
“It’s indeed not that simple…
After only a few seconds, the eye goes like: Qh7+ Be7 Qxe7 Qxe7 Nc8+ Kb7 Nxe7
…but then black plays …b4!”
Actually, it’s even worse, as black plays …g3!! and the pawn queens!
“Hmmm…then what….?!?”
Then don’t get fancy with 2Qxe7??
The first move is easy to spot, as Qh7+ forces the bish to block on e7, and the knight has a fork of e7 and the king on a7. So 1 Qh7+ Be7 has to be the right start.
But instead of 2 QxB??, I think that just taking advantage of the pin on the Bishop and slow-playing the position is better. 2 Nc8+ right away looks better than 2 QxB, but unfortunately black then has a nice cheapo with 2…QxN!! 3 QxB Ka6, and black is up a pawn and winning. Ouch!
So…2 Nf5! is the only move left by default, as it also doubly attacks the bish, even though there is no cute fork with check.
I don’t see the win precisely from here, but again, all other moves lose except for 2 Nf5! which wins by default, as after just about any move by black it will leave white up a knight for a pawn with 3 NxB. And with the queens still on the board, white can stop the g-pawn from threatening to promote.
Qh7+ Be7 Nc8+ (Qxc8? Qxe7+ … and Qxh4) King move … then Nxe7
What about the g pawn?
after Nxe7 the black would play g3
and the pawn cannot be stop!
Darn, I cooked myself. (see my previous post)
16.cxb6 makes it harder than it should be depending on where black’s king goes after capturing the knight.
16. c6 is much clearer. Although white’s king will have has to scoot down and grab the b pawn after the forced queen exchange.
crwydryn
I See Nothing better than Qh7+ Be7 Nf5
A funny ending after 2 Nf5 :
So Begins Qh7+ Be7 Nf5 g3 hxg3 hxg3 (or h3, same) Nxe7 g2 Nxc6+ Ka6 (or a8) Nxd8 g1=Q Qb7 #
Not an easy on
1.Qh7 Be7
2.Nf5 g3 ( and if Kb7 take the bishop and g3 will not work because when the Knight moves it will be check)
3.Nxe7 Qc7 to get out of the knight fork
4.Nxc6+ Kb7
5. Qxc7+ Kc7
6.Nd4 and the Knight can stop the g pawn
Continuing tvtom’s line
1. Qh7+ Be7
2. Nf5!
here are 2 possible forceful continuations:
2…. g3
3. Nxe7 g2
4. Nxc6+ Kh6
5. Qg7++
2…. Kh8
3. Nxe7 g3
4. Nc6 Qa8
5. Qc7! g3xh2
Now
6. Nb8+ does not work as
6…… QxN
7. QxQ and
7….. h1=Q
So instead
6. c5! bxc5
7. Qxa5+ Kb7
8. Qd5 and White has the superior position.
In the above line, if
5… g2 then
6. Nb8+ works since on
6…. Qxb8
7. QxQ g1=Q
8. Qa8 mate
after
1.qh7+ be7
2.nf5 … the best defense for black is imho
2… qd7
3.nxe7 kb7!
4.qxh4 qe6
5.ka1 ka6!
6.qg5!…
(6.qh7? qe1+ 7.ka2 qe6)
6….qe2!
7.qf6 a4!
8.qg6 qxe7
9.qxc6 qf7
with still a long way to go for white…
Greetings,
1. Qh7+ Be7
2. Nf5! g3
(2…Qd7 3.Nxe7 Ka6 4.Qe4! g3 5.hg hg 6. Ng6!? Qd2 7.Nf4 followd by Ng2-Ne3, and g pawn is going nowhere; 2…Ka6 3.Nxe7 Qd4 4.Qg8! and a8 is sensitive.)
3. Nxe7 Ka6
4. Nxc6 Qa8
5. hxg3!
(5. Qc7? gh 6.Nb8+ Qxb8! 7. Qxb8 a1Q and a8 is covered just in time )
5…Qxc6
6.Qxh4 (This queen ending should be won.)
My Regards
King.
Vohaul said…
“after
1.qh7+ be7
2.nf5 … the best defense for black is imho
2… qd7
3.nxe7 kb7!
4.qxh4″
I think taking this pawn is not as strong as Qe4, pinning and doubly attacking the c-pawn, and after 4…g3 5 hxg3 hxg3 6 Ng6, the knight will be able to get to the f4 square and block the g-pawn and eventually win it. This might be white’s strongest line here; other than that, your analysis looks great:
“4.qxh4 qe6
5.ka1 ka6!
6.qg5!…
(6.qh7? qe1+ 7.ka2 qe6)
6….qe2!
7.qf6 a4!
8.qg6 qxe7
9.qxc6 qf7
with still a long way to go for white… “
Nice analysis. I’d say here that 10 Qc8+ either wins the g-pawn, or trades queens after …Qb7 11 QxQ KxQ 12 b4 and white’s extra pawn should win easily.
With 10 Qc7+ Ka7 11 Qxg4, the queens are still on the board, but now white has two extra pawns, which should win.