White to move. How should White proceed?
Level of difficulty: 2 out of 4
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tricky chess tactic
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White to move. How should White proceed?
Level of difficulty: 2 out of 4
1.Rc7!.Black is in zugzwang. Forced Nd5 otherwise he loses material with no let up in the zugzwang.
2.Bxd5!.exd.3.Rxc8+.Rxc8.4.Nxc8.d4.5.Nxb6.d3. 6.Nc4.Ke7/8 to stop b pawn otherwise it would be too late.
7.b6!.Kd7.8.b7!.Kc7.9.e6!.the BK cannot stop both pawns from queening..Kxb7.10.e7! And the pawn queens for a easy win!
Harry
Rc7 seems the best for me. Black is zugzwang. AndrewMD
There are really only two moves here that have my interest- Kh4 and Rc7, but Rc7 is by far the more tantalizing due to it’s zugzwang motif:
1. Rc7
Consider this- the black knight can’t move without leaving the bishop at c8 insufficiently guarded; the black rook can’t move either because a8 and b7 are under attack by white’s pieces; the bishop can’t move because d7 is also under attack by the black rook; and finally, the black king can’t move because its only legal moves leave the knight unguarded. This leaves only pawn moves for black, and all the pawn moves lose pawns. In addition, none of the pawn move relieve the predicament of the black pieces and their king- black will have to continue to push pawns losing them one by one until he must make one of the fatal moves I mentioned above. Typical of this is the following line:
1. …..h4
2. Kh4
White doesn’t need to take, and perhaps it is less efficient to do so, but there is really no counters for black that I can foresee. Continuing:
2. …..Nd5 (g5 3.Kg5+-)
3. Bd5 ed5
4. Rc8 Rc8
5. Nc8 d4 (what else?)
6. Nb6
And the knight is in position to stop the d-pawn. White’s two passers are decisive since the king can’t both stop them and protect g6/f5.
Truthfully, I consider this a 3 out of 4 difficulty. Zugzwang themes are often difficult to spot since they often require quiet moves rather than active ones, and quiet moves are harder to see for most players.
Think zugzwang.
only Rc7 and leave black in zugzwang. ALAWADHI
1.Rc7 and black is in zwugzwang. he can not move any piece including K without losing material.Any pawn move is advantageous to white.
Rc7 and Black can’t move any of his minor pieces. He’s forced to move and lose his g and h pawns to White.
Rc7!
1.Rc7 and Black can not move without losing a piece. 🙂
1. Rc7
black is zugged