Puzzle of the week #114

Submitted by eugen on Fri, 04/23/2010 - 07:33

Playing on the rim is dim

Level
4-Rook
Chess Diagram
[Event "Puzzle #114"][Date "2010.04.23"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "K7/8/Pp6/kp6/1n6/1P6/8/B7 w - - 0 1"]
Chess like any other sport is full of quotes and funny stories. The vast majority of chess quotes relate to certain situations during a game and a good player will always know when to follow or not to follow them. Here are a few you might find useful:
"Playing on the rim is dim"
“Every Pawn is a potential Queen” (James Mason)
“The King is a fighting piece. Use it!” (Wilhelm Steinitz)
“After a bad opening, there is hope for the middle game. After a bad middle game, there is hope for the endgame. But once you are in the endgame, the moment of truth has arrived” (Edmar Mednis)
“I look one move ahead... the best!” (Siegbert Tarrasch)

Your tasks:
a) Are these quotes useful? If yes, how; please explain (10 points)
b) White to move and win (10 points)

Total available points for this puzzle is 20. The answers will be published next week together with puzzle #115.

Puzzle #113 solution:
This is another brilliant Troitsky puzzle created in 1895. The best response of the week follows below. Karl wrote:
This really is an amazing puzzle. The poorly placed Black Queen and the cooperation of White's Bishop and Knight is incredible.
a) Plan for white:
White's best chance is to use the cooperation of his pieces (because he has advantage in numbers) and take out or trap Black's Queen. Since White is up
a pawn on the Kingside, there might be a pawn charge and a chance at promotion.
Plan for black:
Take White's pawns and pieces if he can, use White's material disadvantage against him, etc. Basically, Black should just use his advantage to get a
bigger advantage and win.
b) I found the answer very surprising. See solution:

[Event "Puzzle #113"][Date "2010.04.16"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "8/1p3pp1/3k2p1/7P/pq3P2/3B3P/P1PN2P1/3K4 w - - 0 1"]1.h6 {This threatens to promote the pawn. The most expected way to answer would be} 1...gxh6 (1...Kc7 {Another idea for Black is to try to stop the pawn from promoting without taking it. However, this doesn't work either. Black's Queen can't get to the 8th rank in time, without getting killed} 2.hxg7 {White wins}) 2.c3! {Due to the awesome Knight position, the Black Queen only has one square to go, without getting forked by the Knight or taken by a piece} 2...Qxf4 3.g3 {This wins the Queen; it has nowhere to go. Getting forked by a Knight or taken by a piece is inevitable} 3...Qxd2+ 4.Kxd2 {White wins}

Correct solutions:
Edwin, Andy Y, Karl, Owen - 25 points
Jeffrey - 22 points
James - 15 points
Alex, Nathaniel - 5 points

Standings:
Owen - 274 points
Andy Y - 258 points
Karl - 257 points
Edwin - 216 points
Andy Q - 214 points
Humphrey - 180 points
Alex - 171 points
Jeffrey - 170 points
James - 151 points
Nathaniel - 105 points
Amir - 103 points
Rick - 18 points
Marko - 10 points