Rinck 1912 by Andreas
White to move. How do you assess this position? Which side is better? How would you continue as White?
8/3pP2B/1n2r3/8/6k1/8/R4PK1/8 w – – 0 1
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Very tricky endgame
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the word tricky gives it away, i bet on re2
You are so right. I was wracking my brain trying to think of some other moves but yeah, it’s Re2 alright … took me a while to see it though.
1. Re2! Rxe2 (forced)
2. Be4! Rxe4 (forced, otherwise the pawn queens)
3. f3+ and the rook is forked.
Tricky indeed.
1. Re2! Rxe2 (forced)
2. Be4! Rxe4 (forced, otherwise the pawn queens)
3. f3+ and the rook is forked.
That’s the key line, all right. Black could try something like 2…Kf4, but after:
3.e8=Q Rxe4
4.Qb8+ Kf5
5.Qxb6
… he’s lost in the Q vs. R ending.
I’m pleased that I was able to solve that in about 15 seconds, though the fact that it was a composition did give a clue. I once composed a position — the only chess problem I ever created — with a very similar theme, though it isn’t as clever as Rinck’s.