Puzzle of the week #6

Submitted by oldadmin on Thu, 02/14/2008 - 22:19

Passed pawns

Level
3-Bishop
Chess Diagram
[Event "Puzzle #06"][Date "2008.02.14"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "8/5K2/8/7p/k7/2B5/1P6/8 w - - 0 1"]
There is an old Romanian saying You cannot chase 2 rabbits in the same time (approx translation). Of course the explanation is very simple: a rabbit hops around like crazy while changing directions at every hop, so it is very hard to follow it around expecting to catch it. Now if one is hard to catch, how could one expect to catch two in the same time?... I remember our teachers and parents used to repeat quite often such words of wisdom, in their attempt to focus us on one thing at a time, instead of starting several things in the same time just to finish none! What does this has to do with chess you might ask? Well, it might have more to do than you can imagine. For today's puzzle (source, Lisitzin) see diagram.
White to move and win
Is the Romanian saying applicable here? Please answer to both questions. This is a 2 points puzzle. The answer will be published next week together with puzzle #7.

Puzzle #05 solution:
The White King looks more exposed. Also as a general rule: Q+N cooperate much better than Q+B. Here in particular Q+N work so well together, the puzzle has been named the "dream combo". Whenever a Knight is involved in a combination, we have to look carefully how the enemy pieces are placed on the board. If their geometric pattern is in an L-shape (see Qc3-Be2-Kg3), the Knight can do a lot of damage! However do not forget that here it needs help to unleash it's devastating power. See solution:
[Event "Puzzle #05"][Date "2008.02.07"][Result "0-1"][SetUp "1"][FEN "8/3q3k/6n1/4P1pp/8/2Q3K1/4B2P/8 b - - 0 1"]1...Qh3+!! 2.Kxh3 (2.Kf2? Qxc3 {Black wins}) 2...Nf4+ 3.Kg3 Nxe2+ 4.Kf3 Nxc3 {Black is up a piece and winning}

Correct solutions:
John D, Bryant - 2.0 points
Karl, Jacob, Joanne, Matthew, Jeremy, David and Karen - 1.0 point

Standings:
5.0 Bryant
4.0 John D, Jacob, Jeremy and Karl
3.5 Matthew and David
2.5 Frank
1.5 Jakab, Joanne, Karen, Nicholas and Algerd
0.5 Alejandro, Vera, Mark, Kenneth, West and Katerina