White to move. Can White hold this position?
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Doesn’t white have either a perpetual check or a free bishop by bouncing the queen between H5 and E8? If the bishop blocks, the Q takes it and gets check again so then the Knight is free to escape.
Dont forget to look at a double check!
1. Qh5 Kg8
2. Qe8 Kh7 is forced because 2..Bf8 loses to 3. Qg6+ followed by 4. Nf6
3. Ng5+ forces 3..Kh6 (only move)
Now I don’t see a quick finish but the position looks definitely in White’s favor.
White can try now: 4. Qe6+ and black is forced to move his King to h5. After 4..Kh5 than 5. Qf7+ wins ( 5..Kh6 6. Ne6+ followed by 7. Qxg7++).
So after calculation I humbly declare that the position in the diagram is a winning situation for White.
Mat in 9
White has at least a draw with perpetual Qh5+, Qe8+, Qg6+.
White has its Q, N and even B relevant to the North-East Quadrant: Black’s pieces are mainly not. Q and N complement each other and can be lethal. Was this really a game position?!
So let’s try:
1. Qh5+ Kg8 {forced}
2. Qe8+ Kh7 {Bf8 less good}
3. Ng5+ Kh6 {only move}
4. Qe6+ Kh5 {forced}
5. Qf7+ Kh6 {Kg4 f3#}
6. Ne6+! f4 {forced}
7. Qxg7+ Kh5 {only move}
8. Qg5#
… so only one essential line
Anon_4:57 said:
“So let’s try:
1. Qh5+ Kg8 {forced}
2. Qe8+ Kh7 {Bf8 less good}
3. Ng5+ Kh6 {only move}
4. Qe6+ Kh5 {forced}
5. Qf7+ Kh6 {Kg4 f3#}
6. Ne6+! f4 {forced}
7. Qxg7+ Kh5 {only move}
8. Qg5#
… so only one essential line”
In your line, you can alternatively mate with Nf3 instead of 5 Qf7+:
5 Nf3! Qd8 (only try other than spite checks)
6 Qf7+ Kg4
7 Nh2++
The retreating knight move is sort of cooler, but yours is ‘safer’ in that it involves all checks and thus forced moves.
And actually, there’s another essential line besides yours:
“1. Qh5+ Kg8 {forced}”
But it’s not forced, as:
1 (Qh5+) Bh6
2 QxB+ Kg8
3 Nf6+ Kf7
4 Qh7+ KxN
5 Bg5++
tvtom’s analysis is correct. Perhaps my ‘language’ is not clear enough:
a) I’m choosing ‘obviously best’ moves
b) ‘only’ means ‘only legal’
c) ‘forced’ means ‘obviously best’ for defence
Maybe there are better words.
5.Nf3 is elegant, but I doubt I’d look at that otb after 5.Qf7+
1…Bh6 seemed to go nowhere but leads to quite an elegant mate too.
As for words, I only have a problem with:
“c) ‘forced’ means ‘obviously best’ for defence”
I take ‘forced’ to mean either no other legal move, that leads to mate next move, but in this case there was an alternate that lasted almost as long. Though if the ‘forced’ move was the only move that didn’t lead to mate, then in that context I’d call that forced as well; yet in this case all moves led to mate, so none were forced.
“5.Nf3 is elegant, but I doubt I’d look at that otb after 5.Qf7+”
Yeah, neither would I, but playing with the position, I found it and thought it was cool, which is why I wanted to share it.
“1…Bh6 seemed to go nowhere but leads to quite an elegant mate too.”
Yep, which is why I wanted to share that one as well. I like elegant mates and so wanted to share the pretty lines; but as you said, I wouldn’t even look for them otb either after finding a brute force mate with all checks – which is safer and easier to analyze, as it severely narrows the ‘tree’ you have to search to find checkmate. And no reason to ever let your opponent have a tempo to cause mischief!