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Sunday Chess Problem [EvolutionBlog]
Yes, granted, it’s actually Monday. But it was only a technical glitch that kept me from posting this yesterday, so it still counts as Sunday Chess Problem!
We’re going to stick with endgame studies for this week. This one was composed by a fellow named Seletsky in 1933. It’s white to play and win:
That’s a lot of firepower on an open board! At first blush it seems that white’s only advantage is his passed pawn on d7. But that little fellow is firmly under control. It turns out, though, that white has a mating attack. He will have to sacrifice his pawn, bishop, and queen to bring home the point, but the mate is there (unless black just gives up his queen or something). I should warn you that there are a fair number of side lines to consider in the early part of the study. I’ll just indicate a few items, but you might want to have your computer analyzing in the background as you play through it. My admiration for this study increases when I keep in mind that Seletsky did not have a computer to help him with the analysis.
Let’s see how the trick is done. White starts with 1. Qg5!, which threatens to promote the pawn. Now, taking the pawn does not work. We will have 1. … Bxd7 2. Nf4 Qd6 (best) 3. Bc4+ Ke8 4. Qg8+ and the attack will prove to be too strong. Black’s best is 1. … Ke6+, and white must carefully select a square for his king. It turns out that 2. Kg1!, is the only way to shield the king from annoying checks later in the study. And now, after 2. … Kxd7 we have reached this position:
Taking with the bishop is again unsuccessful. 2. … Bxd7 3. Bg4+ Kf7 4.Ne5+ Ke8 5. Bxd7 mate. Now we have 3. Nc5+ Kc8:
Black could not play 3. … Kd6 because of 4. Qg3+ Kd5 5. Bc4+ Kxc4 6. Qb3+ Kxc5 7. Qa3+, which wins the queen. The resulting endgame of queen against two pieces is a theoretical win.
OK. Now things settle down a bit and the play is more forcing. We have 4. Ba6+ Kb8 5. Qg3+ Ka8:
The black king is getting kicked around a fair amount, but hasn’t he found safety at last? No! Now we have the dramatic finale. 6. Bb7! Bxb7 7. Nd7! White’s clever second move has ensured that black has no checks. That means he must move his queen, and 7. … Qd8 is as good as anything.
But I’ll bet you see the finish now. It’s a classic smothered mate after 8. Qb8+ Qxb8 9. Nb6 mate.
Pure wizardry! The large number of side lines early on might count as a small artistic blemish, but the skill with which the powerful black army is forced to do white’s bidding more than makes up for it. Great stuff!
See you next week.
Source: http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2015/11/03/sunday-chess-problem-52/
