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Chess problem #60

 
 


Posted by Christopher    United States   on 02/08/2012 at 06:39 PM   
 
  1. castle

    line up your rooks

    black bishop moves 1

    rook takes knight

    white bishop takes pawn for mate

    Posted by Drew458    United States   02/09/2012  at  08:15 AM  

  2. Castling is probably what I’d have done too, but no. The authors give White’s first move as:

    1. Nxh7

    Now, see if you can work out the rest. Remember, the idea is pinning. Absolute pins against the Black King in this case.

    So White just scarfed a pawn. My problem is that Black doesn’t HAVE to take the White knight. But if he doesn’t, he’s down a pawn and will lose the endgame. If he does take the knight, then all the fun starts.

    Posted by Christopher    United States   02/09/2012  at  12:01 PM  

  3. I just threw up a quick solution with my first cup of coffee. Not knowing much about pins, I figured I’d go for the setup that forced Black to choose between losing a bishop or a rook. I also saw that opening with Ne4 could put the pin on the black bishop and threaten the queen a few moves forward ... but it didn’t seem too wise to leave the white King exposed, which is why my first move was the castle. I can’t see White making an opening move that gives a check, so Black can at least hassle White by starting with Q1a+ and then Bg4+, which forces White to play Kd2 to escape and allows Black to safely slaughter the rook, Qxh1, and then go pawn hunting in the lower right corner.

    1. Nxh7 seems pretty strange. I’ll have to think about that; it seems to open a whole run of suicidal moves by white ...
    1. Nxh7 Kxh7
    2. Rh5+ Pxh5? Is this the pin? Oh golly. And Black can’t advance the pawn at f7 either. Which is why 2 ... Kg7 is the right move. Oh sure,
    3. Be5+ forces Kg8 for another escape, and sooner or later White will bring the Queen into play.

    But if Black responds to the Knight’s BS properly -
    1. Nxh7 Qa1+ then the pressure is off the Black king for a move, and he can kill the knight at leisure, and Hall’s strategy goes bye bye.

    Posted by Drew458    United States   02/09/2012  at  03:09 PM  

  4. Yes. The pawn can’t take the Rook because of the pin. Exactly the tactic being discussed.

    And 2…Kg7 is the only move after 2. Rh5+. Black can’t go back to g8 because that allows the White Queen on c2 to take the pawn on g6 and that’s called mate. Black can’t take because the f7 pawn is pinned by White’s c4 Bishop.

    Damn Drew, you’re getting good. Most people wouldn’t have found 2. Rh5+. That is not an obvious move. You even got that Black has to play the King to g7.

    Oh, and after 1. Nxh7 Qa1+ then White plays 2. Ke2 and now Black is in even worse shape. Black can take the h1 Rook, but he’s going to be mated if he wastes time taking the Rook. So now Black’s Queen is in jeopardy along with the King.

    So, here’s what we have that is correct:

    1. Nxh7 Kxh7
    2. Rh5+ Kg7
    3. ?

    Now what does White play? We’ve not got quite the whole solution yet. Even the rest is still based on the pin. No, there’s no immediate mate, just White gets an overwhelming advantage. This actually ends with one of those ‘and White wins’ phrases.

    Very irritating.

    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost a ‘won’ game. Usually because I couldn’t force mate before the clock ran out. On the other hand, I’ve won a few games because the other guy couldn’t force mate before his clock ran out. Wise use of the clock is part of the game. We see that in football all the time. The team with the lead just tries to run the clock out.

    Posted by Christopher    United States   02/09/2012  at  04:02 PM  

  5. You know I hate those. And I hate the “and the pawn magically turns into a queen” BS, even if it has been a proper rule for centuries, and was obviously developed to counter that kind of lame ending. There is a fundamental flaw in the game, or a missing rule: automatic draw after X moves, whether X = 20 or 15 or whatever. Running down the clock is one thing, but since the game is far older than clocks, it doesn’t have the proper flavor to me.

    Posted by Drew458    United States   02/10/2012  at  10:23 AM  

  6. Chess is much like bowling. You may make a bad move, or throw the ball into the gutter. The difference is that in chess you can keep score and replay your stupid moves. You do that so that you don’t repeat them.

    As for the clock, can you imagine a football game without a clock?

    and the pawn magically turns into a queen

    I’m unfamiliar with chess games where the pawn ‘magically’ turns into a Queen. You still have to get a pawn to the eighth rank. And then you can choose what to promote it to. I know of one game where if he’d called for a Queen, it would have been a draw by stalemate. So he called for a knight. And won.

    The best part of Chess and Bowling is getting out and being sociable. Can we agree on that?

    Posted by Christopher    United States   02/10/2012  at  07:02 PM  

  7. No.

    Reader Clarence sent this one in on the 10th (my bad for not checking my email sooner):

    I see this

    1. Nxh7 Kxh7
    2. Rh5+ Kg7
    3. Be5+ Kg8
    4. Rh8 Mate

    Looks like a solve to me!

    Posted by Drew458    United States   02/13/2012  at  05:30 PM  

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