CHESS NE1 - White to play

BrianW FIDE Master Posts: 233 Gender:	White to play Jan 22^nd, 2010, 9:56pm I was looking at this problem the other day and thought the solution was quite easy. I was surprised to see that my solution didn't agree with the solution in the text Even now, when I look at it, I reckon that my solution's better. Let's see what you lot think and we'll compare notes in a few days time. It's white to play and win:-
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StraightLarsen Patzer Posts: 18 Gender:	Re: White to play Reply #1 - Jan 23^rd, 2010, 4:43pm I guess quite a lot of moves win here, but my preference is for the interference Rd7 which just seems unanswerable.
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BohemianBoroBri Patzer My opponent combines well.......! Posts: 29	Re: White to play Reply #2 - Jan 25^th, 2010, 4:53pm Yep! Rd7 gets my vote as well!
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BrianW

FIDE Master

Posts: 233
Gender: male

Re: White to play
Reply #3 - Jan 25^th, 2010, 9:58pm

Yeah, OK. Rd7 it is. I'm embarrassed to say that, since I posted this, I've realised that my idea is flawed.
What I thought was Rd8. I reasoned as follows...The threat is 2. Rxe8+ Bf8 then either R or Q takes f8#.
What are his choices? Well, 2...hg loses a Rook but avoids the mate. Good enough though. If 2...Qe7 then 3. Rxe8 Qxe8, then 4. Rd8, either wins the queen or mates him...doesn't it?
Well, not quite. He's got 4...Rh1+, forcing 5. Qxh1 and, once the white Queen's off the f file, black's free to play 5...Qxd8 and White's got nothing.
'Must try harder' as my old school teacher used to say undecided

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BrianW FIDE Master Posts: 233 Gender:	Re: White to play Reply #4 - Jan 28^th, 2010, 10:18pm Here's another one of those 'White to play and win' things. Even I thought this one was pretty easy, but I just thought I'd show it, cos it demonstrates nicely one of the previous themes that was being discussed on this thread. OK, I'm sure you've all worked it out. What's the theme I'm talking about though?
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bill Grandmaster CHESS NE1 Its good craic! Posts: 1072 Gender:	Re: White to play Reply #5 - Jan 29^th, 2010, 8:55am Quote from BrianW on Jan 28^th, 2010, 10:18pm: OK, I'm sure you've all worked it out. What's the theme I'm talking about though? No idea, can't see a defence to Qxf5.
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BrianW FIDE Master Posts: 233 Gender:	Re: White to play Reply #6 - Jan 30^th, 2010, 9:40pm Yes, right again Bill. Surprised you didn't get the theme though! Black's Nf5 is defending against the mate. So, when White plays Qxf5 he is 'removing the defender'. That's what I was on about
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BrianW FIDE Master Posts: 233 Gender:	Re: White to play Reply #7 - Feb 28^th, 2010, 11:28am Here's another one. Personally I found this one quite tricky. It's White to play and he actually has two winning continuations. Can you find em?
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Jimbob Jones FIDE Master Posts: 313	Re: White to play Reply #8 - Feb 28^th, 2010, 9:18pm If it was a game, I think I'd play g5-g6 almost without thinking because that just must be a win. Either the king takes and then ...Qh5+ looks like it forces checkmate almost immediately, or black will be a rook down If you're after two winning variations, then the rook sacrifice ...Rxh6+, again with ...Qh5 to follow looks promising.
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BrianW

FIDE Master

Posts: 233
Gender: male

Re: White to play
Reply #9 - Feb 28^th, 2010, 9:34pm

Quote from Jimbob Jones on Feb 28^th, 2010, 9:18pm:

If it was a game, I think I'd play g5-g6 almost without thinking because that just must be a win. Either the king takes and then ...Qh5+ looks like it forces checkmate almost immediately, or black will be a rook down

If you're after two winning variations, then the rook sacrifice ...Rxh6+, again with ...Qh5 to follow looks promising.

You're right on one count Jimbob but not the other. I'll leave it up for a couple of days for others to have a look at before I say anything else Wink

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StraightLarsen

Patzer

Posts: 18
Gender: male

Re: White to play
Reply #10 - Feb 28^th, 2010, 11:54pm

Quote from BrianW on Feb 28^th, 2010, 9:34pm:

Quote from Jimbob Jones on Feb 28^th, 2010, 9:18pm:

If it was a game, I think I'd play g5-g6 almost without thinking because that just must be a win. Either the king takes and then ...Qh5+ looks like it forces checkmate almost immediately, or black will be a rook down

If you're after two winning variations, then the rook sacrifice ...Rxh6+, again with ...Qh5 to follow looks promising.

You're right on one count Jimbob but not the other. I'll leave it up for a couple of days for others to have a look at before I say anything else Wink

Hmmm. In what sense is Jimbob wrong? Both his solutions look completely crushing to me. And I fully agree that over the board I'd play g6+ almost immediately. In fact almost any sensible continuation by white here must lead to black getting mated or losing masses of material - just what part is the rook at a8 or even the queen at d8 taking in the game?
But as you're making an issue of it, the solution can't be Re6 (which also looks crushing to me) so I guess there must be a forced mate here. So given this hint I eventually came up with Nxh6 since Rxf3 g6+! looks like mate in a couple more moves - but I would never bother to look for this OTB.

SL

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BrianW FIDE Master Posts: 233 Gender:	Re: White to play Reply #11 - Mar 2^nd, 2010, 6:33pm OK. Time to reveal. Straightlarsen gets the cigar this time. Here's the solution as given to me. 1st solution 1. g6+ (Yes, you all guessed that one!) Kxg6, 2. Qh5+ Kh7, 3. Qxh6+ Bxh6, 4. Rxh6+ Kg8, 5. Rh8# 2nd solution 1. Nxh6! Rxf3, 2. g6+ Kxg6, 3. Rg1+ and mate follows.
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