Sunday, April 24, 2011

Puzzles With Imbalances

These are actual games I've played (don't scroll past the diagrams if you don't want to look at the solutions).

Game 1 - Winning Attack

Black (Me) has a winning attack, time to bring home the bacon....

(Black to play)


Game 2 - Find The Best Move

White had traded a Knight+Bishop for a Rook+Pawn to pry open my King position. I knew that Black has a slight advantage but I was thinking of how to best activate my pieces here. I sank into a deep long think.... and came up with a move. What move was it?
(Black to play) :


Game 3 - I Didn't See It Coming

My opponent thought that he could defend with Black and played 1.... Qd6. What did he miss?

(White to play)



Answers:

Game 1

1... Bf1+ 2. Rxf1 Rh2#

Game 2:


The move I played was 1.... Nh4! Suddenly the dawn of realisation came when my opponent realised that the Knight on h4 is untouchable. White tried 2. Qb3+ Bd5 and resigned a few moves later.

Added Question: Can you figure out why White cannot play 2. gxh4? Because it ends in mate!

1... Nh4
2. gxh4 Qxh2+
3. Kg1 Qh1+
4. Ke2 Qf3+
5. Kg1 e3!! and mate cannot be prevented

Game 3 -


The winning move was 1. f4! And mate cannot be stopped as the the next move is Qh7#. If
1. f4 Nxf4 (else 1.... Rh8 2. f7=Q+ Bxf8 3. Qg5#)
2. Rxf4 also results in mate after Qh7+ and Qh4#
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6 comments:

  1. HeinzKApril 25, 2011 at 1:48 AM

    Hi interesting concept. Game 1 Bf1+ Ng2 Bxg2# Game 2 Nge5 can't be that bad either Game 3 I thought Qh7+ Kg5 f4+ Nxf4 Qf5+ works in a similar way

    ReplyDelete
  2. tanchApril 25, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    Hi HeinzK!

    Thanks for the addendum on Game 1. Ooops, I forgot to put that variation in! :)

    For Game 2, Nge5 is indeed good. But what I didn't like initially about the move was that it blocks the Queen's diagonal and I felt that if I were to maintain this clear line of diagonal, White will forever have to worry about piece sacrifices around its pawn structure. It was only after I started to calculate Nh4 and that it could not be taken that I realise that White is in huge trouble after this move.

    For Game 3, Qh7+ was nice. But I latched onto the idea of f4 because the problem was that pesky Knight that could provide the King with some cover and I could not calculate that it works as well within the time constraint.

    Thank you for the comments! You've certainly given me something to think about!

    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  3. wangApril 27, 2011 at 9:51 AM

    I saw Bxg4 for the first one, although your path was shorter.

    I got f4 for game 3.

    Game two I would have managed to lose somehow.

    Great games btw.

    ReplyDelete
  4. LauriApril 28, 2011 at 4:28 PM

    I must be loosing my mind but how is 1.f4 Nxf4 2.Qh7 mate?

    ReplyDelete
  5. tanchApril 28, 2011 at 4:49 PM

    Hi Lauri,

    1. f4 Nxf4 (else 1.... Rh8 2. f7=Q+ Bxf8 3. Qg5#)
    2. Rxf4 also results in mate after Qh7+ and Qh4#

    If Black attempts to guard the h-file with 2... Rh8 then the earlier variation with f7=Q+ (listed within the brackets) also leads to the same mating combination.

    cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  6. tanchApril 28, 2011 at 11:21 PM

    Hi Wang,

    Thanks for the compliments!!

    ReplyDelete

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