Saturday, June 14, 2008

Finishing Puzzle

One of the hardest things to accomplish in chess is trying to finish off your opponent as fast as possible.

As they say, to succeed in chess, you must show your opponent you know "how to win the won game", so to speak.

Here is a game I played with my opponent.

White is 2 pieces and 2 pawns down.

The White Queen however is a pain and Black has to constantly watch out for tricks and White can play on for a long time, harassing Black's minor pieces. How can Black make the game end quicker?

Unfortunately, I could not find this move over the board.

Question: Can you find a way to make this game resolve more quickly? White had just played 1. Qd3. It is Black's turn to move.

The answer can be found by highlighting between the brackets
[Black gets the Queens traded off and White's position is untenable after:
1... Qc1+
2. Kg2 or Kh2 Qh1+!!
3. Kxh1 Nxf2+
4. K (moves anywhere) Nxd3
5. b4 Bxb4! or Nxb4!
6. axb4 and now Nxb4 or Bxb4 White cannot survive long with 3 passed pawns on the Queenside]

4 comments:

  1. Qh1+ is a great concept! Thanks for the interesting position.

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  2. Nice puzzle!

    If you think it appropriate I'd appreciate a link to my chess blog Houston Chess and to ChessFlash (the viewer you admired over at Liquid Egg Product).

    Thanks.

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  3. Nifty! Finishing off your opponent when he/she still owns a queen is a major pain in the ass.

    If I had this position in a Blitz game and missed Qh1, I might even be willing to sacrifice the knight 1. ... Nxf2 2. Kxf2 so I could pin the queen and force an exchange with 2. ... Bf5+ 3. Ke2 Qb5 in order to simplify the position.

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  4. likesforests, Glenn Wilson:

    thanks!

    Christian: interesting but White is not obligated to take the N with Kxf2. a very interesting sideline. thank u.

    ReplyDelete