Level
5-Queen
Chess Diagram
[Event "Puzzle #65"][Date "2009.04.03"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "8/p6k/3P4/4p3/3p4/6r1/2P5/R6K w - - 0 1"]
Most of you know how protective parents are with their kids, especially when they are very young. Kids tend to run around and dissapear when you least expect it, right in that split second parents did not look. Of course during such temporary dissapearances kids do all sort of unexpected things, but let's not talk about that... The life lesson here is to keep your kids supervised at all times! Same as in life pawns should be closely supervised in the endgame, or they could run away in a split second and do unexpected things.
The Russian brothers Platov (V and M) have come up with this puzzle (sometime before 1952), asking the solver to decide if the "d6" pawn is sufficiently "supervised" by Black or not. Your tasks:
a) Find the best line for White to move and win (10 points)
b) How many tactical or strategical concepts can you use in your plan? (5 points each)
Total available points for this puzzle varies. The answers will be published next week together with puzzle #66.
Puzzle #64 solution:
This time we have a special situation: one of our solvers found a very strong solution Viktor (a GM) overlooked or dismissed at the time of the game. This is an important accomplishment, so I decided to award 5 extra points to Joshua (he is the one) for his excellent work. Here is his solution, true model on how to respond to our puzzles:
a) White decides to start the attack now because - White's pieces are in the right position to attack:
1. Rook on f3 is pointing near the Black King on the semi-open file;
2. Bishop on c1 is ready to take h6 and if Black takes back with the g7-pawn, then this opens up the Black King's castle and makes him easier to attack.
3. Knight on e4 is pointing near the Black King and can threaten the Black King and Queen by moving to f6. This Knight can fork the Black King and Queen if Black's g7-pawn and Bishop on e7 are not protecting the f6-square.
4. The Queen can attack the Black King in one or two moves once the Rook on f3 moves to g3, then the White Queen can move to g4, charging down on g7 towards the Black King.
Also, White decides to attack at this moment because Black's pieces are in terrible position:
1. Rook on a8 cannot do anything to protect his King or cannot attack the White King right away.
2. King in bad position because the g7-pawn is totally weak, e.g, if White's Bishop takes h6-pawn, and if Black moves his Bishop to f6 to protect weak pawn on g7, White moves Rook to g3 to pin the pawn to the Black King and then the White Knight can take the Bishop on f6 and forks the Black King and Queen, winning the Black Queen.
3. Black Queen is not in a good position because it cannot easily attack the well-protected White King and she can only safely move to a5, b5, d7 or d8, which doesn't really help Black to attack the White King. If she moves to h5, the White Rook on f3 would take the Black Knight on f8, checking the Black Knight and does a discovery to win the Black Queen, i.e., QxQ.
b) See solution:
[Event "Puzzle #64"][Date "2009.03.27"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "r3rnk1/pp2b1p1/2p1p2p/3q4/3PN2P/2P2R2/P3QPP1/2B2RK1 w - - 0 28"]28.Bxh6 gxh6 (28...Bf6 29.Nxf6+ gxf6 30.Rg3+ Kh7 31.Qg4 Kxh6 (31...Ng6 32.Qxg6+ Kh8 33.Qg7#) 32.Qg7+ Kh5 33.Qh8+ Nh7 34.Qxh7#) (28...Qh5 29.Rxf8+ Kxf8 30.Qxh5) (28...Qb5 29.c4 Qa5 30.Rg3 g6 31.Bxf8 Bxf8 32.Rxg6+ Kf7 33.Rg5 Qc7 34.d5 {White is winning}) 29.Rg3+ Kf7 {In the game} (29...Kh8 30.Qg4 Bg5 31.Nf6 Qd8 32.hxg5 {White is winning}) (29...Kh7 30.Qg4 Bg5 (30...Ng6 31.Qxg6+ Kh8 32.Qg7#) 31.Nf6+ {White is winning}) 30.Qg4 Red8 31.Qg7+ Ke8 32.Qxe7+ Kxe7 33.Rg7+ Ke8 34.Nf6#
Correct solutions:
Joshua - 20 + 5 = 25 points
Andy Y - 20 points
John, Andy Q, James - 18 points
Katerina - 15 points
Karl, Jeremy - 12 points
Wilson, Nathaniel - 10 points
Marcus - 2 points
Marcus - 8 points for puzzle #63
Standings:
John - 273 points
Joshua - 271 points
Andy Qian - 254 points
Jeremy - 235 points
Mark - 223 points
Karl - 212 points
Andy Yee - 211 points
James - 156 points
Wilson - 132 points
Humphrey - 111 points
Marcus - 99 points
Katerina - 87 points
Jacky - 80 points
Nathaniel - 52 points
Joanne - 21 points
Darren - 20 points
The Russian brothers Platov (V and M) have come up with this puzzle (sometime before 1952), asking the solver to decide if the "d6" pawn is sufficiently "supervised" by Black or not. Your tasks:
a) Find the best line for White to move and win (10 points)
b) How many tactical or strategical concepts can you use in your plan? (5 points each)
Total available points for this puzzle varies. The answers will be published next week together with puzzle #66.
Puzzle #64 solution:
This time we have a special situation: one of our solvers found a very strong solution Viktor (a GM) overlooked or dismissed at the time of the game. This is an important accomplishment, so I decided to award 5 extra points to Joshua (he is the one) for his excellent work. Here is his solution, true model on how to respond to our puzzles:
a) White decides to start the attack now because - White's pieces are in the right position to attack:
1. Rook on f3 is pointing near the Black King on the semi-open file;
2. Bishop on c1 is ready to take h6 and if Black takes back with the g7-pawn, then this opens up the Black King's castle and makes him easier to attack.
3. Knight on e4 is pointing near the Black King and can threaten the Black King and Queen by moving to f6. This Knight can fork the Black King and Queen if Black's g7-pawn and Bishop on e7 are not protecting the f6-square.
4. The Queen can attack the Black King in one or two moves once the Rook on f3 moves to g3, then the White Queen can move to g4, charging down on g7 towards the Black King.
Also, White decides to attack at this moment because Black's pieces are in terrible position:
1. Rook on a8 cannot do anything to protect his King or cannot attack the White King right away.
2. King in bad position because the g7-pawn is totally weak, e.g, if White's Bishop takes h6-pawn, and if Black moves his Bishop to f6 to protect weak pawn on g7, White moves Rook to g3 to pin the pawn to the Black King and then the White Knight can take the Bishop on f6 and forks the Black King and Queen, winning the Black Queen.
3. Black Queen is not in a good position because it cannot easily attack the well-protected White King and she can only safely move to a5, b5, d7 or d8, which doesn't really help Black to attack the White King. If she moves to h5, the White Rook on f3 would take the Black Knight on f8, checking the Black Knight and does a discovery to win the Black Queen, i.e., QxQ.
b) See solution:
[Event "Puzzle #64"][Date "2009.03.27"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "r3rnk1/pp2b1p1/2p1p2p/3q4/3PN2P/2P2R2/P3QPP1/2B2RK1 w - - 0 28"]28.Bxh6 gxh6 (28...Bf6 29.Nxf6+ gxf6 30.Rg3+ Kh7 31.Qg4 Kxh6 (31...Ng6 32.Qxg6+ Kh8 33.Qg7#) 32.Qg7+ Kh5 33.Qh8+ Nh7 34.Qxh7#) (28...Qh5 29.Rxf8+ Kxf8 30.Qxh5) (28...Qb5 29.c4 Qa5 30.Rg3 g6 31.Bxf8 Bxf8 32.Rxg6+ Kf7 33.Rg5 Qc7 34.d5 {White is winning}) 29.Rg3+ Kf7 {In the game} (29...Kh8 30.Qg4 Bg5 31.Nf6 Qd8 32.hxg5 {White is winning}) (29...Kh7 30.Qg4 Bg5 (30...Ng6 31.Qxg6+ Kh8 32.Qg7#) 31.Nf6+ {White is winning}) 30.Qg4 Red8 31.Qg7+ Ke8 32.Qxe7+ Kxe7 33.Rg7+ Ke8 34.Nf6#
Correct solutions:
Joshua - 20 + 5 = 25 points
Andy Y - 20 points
John, Andy Q, James - 18 points
Katerina - 15 points
Karl, Jeremy - 12 points
Wilson, Nathaniel - 10 points
Marcus - 2 points
Marcus - 8 points for puzzle #63
Standings:
John - 273 points
Joshua - 271 points
Andy Qian - 254 points
Jeremy - 235 points
Mark - 223 points
Karl - 212 points
Andy Yee - 211 points
James - 156 points
Wilson - 132 points
Humphrey - 111 points
Marcus - 99 points
Katerina - 87 points
Jacky - 80 points
Nathaniel - 52 points
Joanne - 21 points
Darren - 20 points
Rook and passed pawns endgame