2kr3r/pb3pp1/4pn1p/2p5/8/1R1B4/P1Q2PPq/2B1RK2 w - - 0 1

Heh

Maybe the 2016 election was a daring queen sacrifice. https://t.co/v8NIhl03Eb

— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) February 18, 2017

Endgame of the Week (405)

It's Black's move. Can he win in this position, or must he settle for a draw? Show your work.

4k3/1p2p2p/1P1p3B/1p6/3P4/4PP2/6P1/1b4K1 b - - 0 1

___________

Solutions Update

Problem 1 - White To Play

6Q1/8/5k2/6p1/1KB1pq1P/8/6p1/8 w - - 0 1

1.Qf7+ Ke5
2.Qe7+

And that was the tricky move. You have to see that if 2.Qe6+ then 2...Kd4 3.Qd5+ Ke3 and the enemy king slips away on the dark squares.

3...Kd4
3.Qc5# 1-0

Problem 2 - White To Play

8/1K5Q/3B4/8/8/8/4p1k1/5q2 w - - 0 1

Every Black move is forced, no alternative.

1.Qh2+ Kf3
2.Qf4+ Kg2
3.Qg3+ Kh1
4.Qh2#

Problem 3 - Black To Play

8/4rk2/5n2/1Q2pp1p/7P/2R1bb2/r5PK/7R b - - 0 1

There are 3 different ways to mate in 3, but they all start with:

1...Ng4+!

Couple of possibilities for White's response here. If 2.Kh3 then 2...Bxg2+ 3.Kg3 Bf4#. This is the first solution. The other possible response is

2.Kg3 f4+
3.Kxf3 (or 3.Kh3 Bxg2#, the third solution)
3...e4# (the second solution)

Problem 4 - White To Play

2kr3r/pb3pp1/4pn1p/2p5/8/1R1B4/P1Q2PPq/2B1RK2 w - - 0 1

1. Qxc5+ Qc7

Best. If 1...Kb8 then it's mate in 7: 2.Rxb7+ Kxb7 3.Qb5+ Ka8 4.Qc6+ Kb8 5.Bf4+ Qxf4 6.Rb1+ Qb4 7. Rxb4#.

Or, even worse, 1...Kd7 2.Rxb7+ Ke8 3.Qe7#.

2.Qxc7+ Kxc7
3.Bf4+ Kd7
4.Rxb7+ and White picks off the bishop.

Endgame of the Week

4k3/1p2p2p/1P1p3B/1p6/3P4/4PP2/6P1/1b4K1 b - - 0 1

So... what can Black do?

In this position, his passed 'b' pawn is his chief asset. So the question is, what happens if he just starts advancing it? What countermeasures are available to White?

1...b4
2.Kf2 b3
3.Ke2 b2
4.Kd2 Bg6

So, White's king doesn't have time to get over there and stop the pawn.

Is there anything else White can do to speed up the defense? Yes. He can advance the 'e' pawn to open up the diagonal for his bishop.

1...b4
2.e4! b3
3. Bc1

And the Black pawn is stymied. So, knowing all this. Is there a Black countermeasure for the White countermeasure, that will prevent him from advancing the 'e' pawn? Yes:

1...Be4!

Given that 2.fxe4 will gum up things in the center pretty good, White should look at alternatives. 2.Bg7 followed by 3.d5 looks promising, but now the bishop is within the Black king's striking distance:

2.Bg7 Kf7
3.Bh8 Kg8

And White will lose the trapped bishop. So 2.Bg7 is no good.

White's king is still out of range, so this still won't work, either:

2.Kf2 b4
3.Ke2 b3
4.Kd2 b2

So all that's left is taking the bishop:

2.fxe4 b4
3.d5 Kf7

As in the earlier line, this Move prevents Bg7 by White. Black's passed pawn is now unstoppable. Play might continue:

4.e5 b3
5.exd6 exd6

And White is in a resignable position.

Hope to see you all next week!

___________

Note: that cryptic line of letters and numbers you see underneath each board diagram is a representation of the position in what is known as "Forsyth-Edwards Notation", or F.E.N. It's actually readable by humans. Most computer applications nowadays can read FEN, so those of you who may want to study the position, you can copy the line of FEN and paste into your chess app and it should automatically recreate the position on its display board. Or, Windows users can just "triple click" on it and the entire line will be highlighted so you can copy and past it into your chess app.

___________

So that about wraps it up for this week. Chess thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to my yahoo address: OregonMuse little-a-in-a-circle yahoo dott com.

posted by OregonMuse at 05:03 PM

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