Chess is a cruel game. A chess player can spoil a lot of hard work with one careless move. Actually that’s exactly what happened to black in the diagram position.
He played 1. … Bf8 and set himself up for losing the game. Two questions:
1. What could black have played to maintain the balance?
2. How does white win after black’s ill fated move?
Black’s situation is quite problematic. He tried to simplify the position and take the sting out of white’s attack with 1. … Qa8 (the black queen was on d8) does this solve his problems? Solution…
Black just played 1. … Bg4 attacking white’s rook on d8 and the queen on h5. Is this bold move enough to save the game? See solution …
White has a simple mate threat. If it was his move he would win with 1. Qh8+ Kf7 2. Th7#
A way to avoid disaster is 1. … Kf7 and to try to move the king out of harms way. Or has black something better? See solution…
I hate to confess this to you, but I missed this one. The first moves seem quite obvious, but than I lost it.*
For sure you can do better and see one move deeper than I did!? White to move and win. See solution…
*I always try to solve the puzzles without moving the pieces.
It seems that the black attack came to a dead end. That’s too bad, because he invested a whole rook in the adventure. The rook on a8 and the bishop on c8 are passive bystanders and of no use for the attack.
At first glance nothing works. For instance 1. … Nxe2+ is met by 2. Nxe2 Qxg4 3. Kh2 Bd7 4. Ng3 and white has the upper hand. Other moves seems to go nowhere either. So is it hopeless for black? On the contrary. He has a win. For you to find out how.
White to move. It seems that black has everything covered. Or does he? See solution…
At the lower level most of the games are won (or lost) by tactical errors. See for instance this position (first diagram). It is black to move. What should he play?
Let’s think about this position for a moment. White has an extra and well supported pawn on d6. His rook on a7 looks to be quite menacing. To add to blacks problems, his king is also in a vulnerable position. The direct threat is Qg7 mate. You don’t need to be a chess wizard to see this. Is this position hopeless?Read More »
I found this puzzle on chess tempo (like a lot of others). I am not completely sure what was white’s last move. But I guess it was a move with the bishop.
So lets say from the diagram white played 1. Bd7. It seems to make sense because the bishop attacks the black rook and in doing so this poses a problem for black.
How should he respond? Certainly not the way he did with 1. … Rc7? After this move white has a nice finish. More tenacious would have been either 1. … Rb8 or 1. … Ra8. You see in the analysis why.
As it happens more often, I went for the wrong solution. After 1. Bd7 Rc7 I played a rather obvious move and missed a clever defense for black. See my remarks with white’s second move in the analysis*.
So the question is: how can white win?
*With thanks to Mr. Houdini
Pfff… (here in Sweden we might say oj, oj, oj and in Dutch oei, oei, oei) that was long time ago since I wrote something on this blog.
My apologies! I will behave like a good kid and write something more in the near future.
See the diagram on the right. It is white to move. Can he win? Solution…
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