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I don’t see it.
Rxb7, Qxb7 Qe5+ and black is forced to play Ka8. After Nc7+ and the subsequent discovered check, white ends up a pawn ahead…
Rxb7, wins queen with discovery or game.
Rxb7 without even having to think about it very long, but I have to say that this isn’t all that clear cut in my mind, which makes me question whether it is proper to call it a tactical pattern. It doesn’t lead to the win of a piece, or a mate as far as I can tell:
1. Rb7! Qb7 (mate comes otherwise)
2. Qe5 Ka8
If Kc8, then 3.Rc1 Kd7 4.Qd6 Ke8 5.Nc7 wins. Continuing:
3. Nc7 Kb8
4. Ne6! Ka8 (Kc8 5.Rc1 Kd7 6.Nc5)
5. Nd8 Rd8
6. Qg7 and white has won two pawns.
My first choice was Rc8, which turned out not to be very good at all. I looked at Rxb7, but dismissed it as not giving white enough advantage. Turning it over to Fritz to choose (infinite analysis mode), Fritz came up with a five move combination that knocked out a black rook and left black’s king vulnerable to repeated checks by white’s queen. Eventually, white can force a rook exchange and then a queen exchange and ultimately exploit his pawn advantage. Not an easy game, though, since black can go for a perpetual check.
[FEN “1k1r3r/ppR2ppp/1q2b3/1N6/4Q3/8/PP3PPP/4R1K1 w – – 0 0”]
1. Rxb7+ $1 {Double attack: g7/b8} Qxb7 2. Qe5+ Ka8 3. Nc7+ Kb8 4. Nxe6+ Ka8 5.
Nxd8 Rxd8 6. Qe8 $1 {Mate threat} Qd5 (6… Rxe8 7. Rxe8+ Qc8 (7… Qb8 8.
Rxb8+ Kxb8 9. f4 {Combination}) 8. Rxc8+ Kb7 9. Rf8 {Combination}) (6… —
$140 7. Qxd8+ {Mate threat}) 7. Qe7 Qd2 8. Qe4+ Kb8 9. h3 h5 (9… f5 10. Qe5+
Ka8 11. a4 $18) 10. Re3 Qd1+ (10… Qd5 11. Qf4+ Ka8 12. Re7 $18) 11. Kh2 Qd5
12. Qb4+ Ka8 13. Re7 {I chose Re7 over the f4 move Fritz chose, which is based
on advancing his f-pawn, using the rook to clear the black f-pawn.} g5 (13…
Qd6+ 14. Qxd6 Rxd6 15. Rxf7 Rd2 16. f4 g6 17. Rf6 Rxb2 18. a3 Rf2 19. Kg3 Ra2
20. Rxg6 Rxa3+ 21. Kh4 Ra5 22. Rg5 Ra4 23. g3 a5 24. Kxh5 Ra3 25. f5
Rf3 26. Kg4 Rf1 27. f6 Rxf6 28. Rxa5+ Kb7 29. h4 Rf1 30. h5 Rh1 $18 {Leads to
a quicker win for white.}) 14. f4 gxf4 15. Qa4 Qc5 16. Re8 Qc7 17. Rxd8+ Qxd8
18. Qe4+ Kb8 19. Qxf4+ Kc8 (19… Ka8 20. h4 Qa5 21. Qf3+ Kb8 22. Qb3+ Ka8 23.
Qc3 $18) 20. Qxf7 Qd6+ 21. Kg1 Qd1+ 22. Qf1 Qd4+ 23. Qf2 Qe5 (23… Qd1+ 24.
Kh2 Qd6+ 25. Kh1 $18) 24. Qc2+ (24. Qxa7 $142 $5 {makes it even easier for
White} Qe1+ 25. Kh2 Qe5+ 26. Kh1 Qxb2 27. Qc5+ Kd7 28. Qf5+ Kd6 29. Qxh5 Qxa2
30. Qg6+ Ke7 31. Qg5+ Kf7 $18) 24… Kd7 25. Qa4+ Kc8 26. Qxa7 Qe1+ 27. Kh2
Qe5+ 28. Kh1 Qxb2 29. Qc5+ Kd7 30. Qd5+ Kc8 (30… Ke7 {does not improve
anything} 31. Qxh5 Qxa2 32. Qg5+ Kf7 33. Kh2 $18) 31. Qxh5 Qc1+ 32. Kh2 Qf4+ (
32… Qc7+ {doesn’t change the outcome of the game} 33. Kg1 Qa7+ 34. Kh1 Qxa2
35. Qg4+ Kd8 36. h4 $18) 33. Kg1 Qe3+ 34. Kf1 Qc1+ 35. Kf2 Qd2+ (35… Qb2+ {
cannot undo what has already been done} 36. Kg3 $18) 36. Qe2 Qd4+ 37. Qe3 Qb2+
38. Kg3 Qg7+ (38… Qxa2 {cannot change what is in store for White} 39. h4 Qf7
40. Qf3 Qc7+ 41. Kh3 $18) 39. Kh2 Qf7 (39… Kb7 {does not win a prize} 40. h4
Qh8 41. Qg5 Qb8+ 42. Kh1 $18) 40. Qc3+ Kd7 41. a3 Qe6 (41… Qf4+ {doesn’t do
any good} 42. Qg3 Qh6 43. h4 $18) 42. h4 Ke8 43. Qg3 Qd5 44. a4 Qa5 (44… Qd4
{hardly improves anything} 45. a5 Qa4 46. Qg5 $18) 45. Qg8+ Kd7 46. Qg4+ Ke8
47. h5 Qe5+ 48. Kh3 Qc3+ 49. Qg3 Qa1 (49… Qc1 $18 {is one last hope}) 50. h6
Qh1+ 51. Qh2 Qb1 52. Qe5+ Kd8 53. Qg5+ Kc8 54. Qg8+ Kd7 55. Qf7+ Kc6 56. Qe6+
Kc5 57. Qe5+ Kc4 58. Qb5+ $1 {doomsday} Qxb5 59. axb5 Kxb5 (59… Kd5 {doesn’t
improve anything} 60. h7 Kd6 61. h8=Q Kc5 62. Qc8+ Kxb5 63. g4 Kb4 64. g5 Kb3
65. g6 Kb4 66. g7 Kb5 67. g8=Q Kb4 68. Qcc4+ Ka5 69. Qd8#) 60. h7 {Black
resigns.} *
Agree with ya cry this isn’t so easy/obvious as a tactical problem…looks like Rxb7 starts off, but I don’t see any knockout blows (and yancey’s Kd7 line looks off, without a board…seems like qd6 is met by Kxqd6!)
Kinzel’s actual line was very similar initially to the one Fritz found, but Kinzel had a better answer at move 4. Instead of Nxe6, he chose Na6, which forces black to give up his queen — a more satisfying result.
1. Rxb7+ Qxb7
2. Qe5+ Ka8
3. Nc7+ Kb8
4. Na6+ Kc8
5. Rc1+ Kd7
6. Nc5+ 1-0
Black could threaten a draw by 4…Ka8 rather than 4…Kc8 above. White would check again with 4. Nc7+, which, if repeated would be a threefold repetition. So, probably white would be forced to play Nxe6 rather than Na6 to prevent that.