Level
5-Queen
Chess Diagram
[Event "Puzzle #79"][Date "2009.07.23"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "8/6p1/2p1q3/4P1p1/6k1/8/6K1/4Q3 w - - 0 1"]
This week is "CYCC week" as 12 of our friends from the club are testing their skills at the nationals in Victoria. We have seen some interesting positions and incredible blunders, so the present puzzle is a tribute to all games played there. It has a couple of ingredients to make it look like a game from CYCC 2009 such as: plausible position and a cheeky solution. The author of this puzzle published in 1899 is the famous endgame composer Troitsky; see puzzle #13 for his bio. Your task is only one considering we are in summer vacation:
White to move and win
Total available points for this puzzle is 10. The answers will be published next week together with puzzle #80.
Puzzle #78 solution:
Rick explains the correct solution very eloquently:
a) Looking at the position, both White and Black have contained the enemy King within boundaries because of the passed pawn/square rule. The farthest square that the White King can reach is g4, but is that enough to win? Let's find out. White's plan is to push his 2 passed pawns far enough so his King can ignore the square rule and continue with his plan.
b) See solution:
[Event "Puzzle #78"][Date "2009.07.17"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "8/8/8/2p5/2Pp4/3K2Pk/7P/8 w - - 0 1"]1.Ke4 Kg4 2.h4 Kh5 3.Kf4 Kh6 4.g4 Kg6 5.h5+ Kh6 6.Ke4 Kg5 7.Kf3 Kh6 {The White King will now leave the square with a winning position by using the triangulation} 8.Kf4 Kg7 9.g5 Kh7 10.g6+! (10.h6? Kg6 {Draw}) 10...Kh6 11.Kg4 Kg7 12.Kg5!! {The phenomenal daredevil move} 12...d3 {Black is just one move too slow from saving the game} 13.h6+ Kg8 {This is the critical point of the game. 14.g7 loses to Kf7 while 14.h7+ loses to Kg7. The only other move to consider is} 14.Kf6 d2 15.h7+ Kh8 16.Kf7 d1=Q 17.g7+ Kxh7 18.g8=Q+ Kh6 19.Qg6# {Black must be frustrated that the starting position seemed to be a draw. It wasn't}
Correct solutions:
Rick - 19 points
Joshua - 5 points
Wilson, Alex, Karl - 2 points
Standings:
Joshua - 56 points
Andy Q - 49 points
Karl - 39 points
Rick - 38 points
Wilson - 34 points
Alex Ge - 27 points
James - 23 points
Katerina, Andy Y - 20 points
Marcus - 19 points
Nathaniel - 18 points
White to move and win
Total available points for this puzzle is 10. The answers will be published next week together with puzzle #80.
Puzzle #78 solution:
Rick explains the correct solution very eloquently:
a) Looking at the position, both White and Black have contained the enemy King within boundaries because of the passed pawn/square rule. The farthest square that the White King can reach is g4, but is that enough to win? Let's find out. White's plan is to push his 2 passed pawns far enough so his King can ignore the square rule and continue with his plan.
b) See solution:
[Event "Puzzle #78"][Date "2009.07.17"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "8/8/8/2p5/2Pp4/3K2Pk/7P/8 w - - 0 1"]1.Ke4 Kg4 2.h4 Kh5 3.Kf4 Kh6 4.g4 Kg6 5.h5+ Kh6 6.Ke4 Kg5 7.Kf3 Kh6 {The White King will now leave the square with a winning position by using the triangulation} 8.Kf4 Kg7 9.g5 Kh7 10.g6+! (10.h6? Kg6 {Draw}) 10...Kh6 11.Kg4 Kg7 12.Kg5!! {The phenomenal daredevil move} 12...d3 {Black is just one move too slow from saving the game} 13.h6+ Kg8 {This is the critical point of the game. 14.g7 loses to Kf7 while 14.h7+ loses to Kg7. The only other move to consider is} 14.Kf6 d2 15.h7+ Kh8 16.Kf7 d1=Q 17.g7+ Kxh7 18.g8=Q+ Kh6 19.Qg6# {Black must be frustrated that the starting position seemed to be a draw. It wasn't}
Correct solutions:
Rick - 19 points
Joshua - 5 points
Wilson, Alex, Karl - 2 points
Standings:
Joshua - 56 points
Andy Q - 49 points
Karl - 39 points
Rick - 38 points
Wilson - 34 points
Alex Ge - 27 points
James - 23 points
Katerina, Andy Y - 20 points
Marcus - 19 points
Nathaniel - 18 points
Queens and pawns