3r2kr/5ppp/pqnQp3/1p2P3/5P2/1N3P2/PPP4P/2KR3R w - - 0 1

Endgame of the Week (532)

White to play. Another tough one. I don' even know how to provide a decent hint.

3N1B2/8/3p3K/4k3/2P5/5p2/8/8 w - - 0 1

Dress Pr0n For the 'Ettes

This week we have a special Retro Edition of Dress Pr0n. You may even recognize a couple of the faces:

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Solutions Update

Problem 1 - White To Play

8/7p/4Q3/7k/3K1P2/4P3/7P/5q2 w - - 0 1

1.Qf5+ Kh4

Not 1...Kh6 2.Qg5#

2.Qg5+ Kh3
3.Qg3#

Problem 2 - Black To Play

3r2k1/3r1ppp/1p6/8/2B2P1q/1P2Nn2/PQ2K1bP/2RR4 b - - 0 1

The decision tree in this problem does not fork:

1...Qe1+!
2.Rxe1 Rd2+
3.Qxd2 Rxd2#

Problem 3 - White To Play

N1k1N3/1nBn4/2K5/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1

1.Kb5!

Black is actually in zugzwang. Any move he makes is going to destabilize his position. His king can't move, only his knights can. So whichever knight move, it creates an opening for White to exploit. There are 9 possibilities, any of whom lead to mate in 2:

1...Nd8 2.Nd6# or
1...Nd6+ 2.Nxd6# or
1...Ndc5 2.Nb6# or
1...Nb8 2.Nb6# or
1...Nbc5 2.Nd6# or
1...Na5 2.Nd6# or
1...Nf8 2.Nb6# or
1...Nf6 2.Nb6# or
1...Ne5 2.Nb6#

Oh, and not 1.Kd5? because of 1...Nf6+ and you've blown the mate in 2. I don't know if it's even possible for White to win from this position.

Problem 4 - White To Play

3r2kr/5ppp/pqnQp3/1p2P3/5P2/1N3P2/PPP4P/2KR3R w - - 0 1

The Black knight is actually ripe for the taking due to back rank mate threats

1. Qxc6! Qe3+

If Black tries to capture 1...Qxc6 then quickly 2.Rxd8+ Qe8 3.Rxe8#

Or 1...Rxd1+ 2.Rxd1 Qxc6 (2...h5 3.Qxb6) 3.Rd8+ Qe8 4.Rxe8#

Of course 1...Rf8 2.Qxb6

2.Kb1 Rf8
3.Qe4 and White has secured his material advantage of a knight.

Endgame of the Week

3N1B2/8/3p3K/4k3/2P5/5p2/8/8 w - - 0 1

1. Nf7+ Kf5

Two inferior options for Black here are:

1...Kf4 2.Bxd6+ Ke3 3.Bc5+ and White has won, as now his bishop is absolutely preventing the pawn from advancing.

1...Kd4 2.Nxd6 f2 3.Nf5+ Kxc4 4.Ng3 and now White will eventuall pick off the f2-pawn.

So "1...Kf5" is the best move for Black

2.Nxd6+ Kf4

If 2...Ke5 then 3.Bg7+ Kxd6 4.Bd4 and White wins as above

3.c5 f2
4.Nc4 f1=Q
5.Bd6+

And now Black cannot escape the knight fork.

5...Kf3 6.Nd2+ or
5...Kg4 6.Ne3+ or
5...Kf5 6.Ne3+ or
5...Ke4 6.Nd2+

This was a tough one.

Hope to see you all next week!

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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.

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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 05:10 PM

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