Chess problem #61

 

A hint: Black doesn’t mate outright. But he does end up with a Rook vs. two pawns. That’s easy to win, even for me!

1. I can see a winning move, which will be for black to have a rook at b2 and then drop his queen in at g2. Can we reverse engineer the game for that to happen, and deduce an opening?

   n ... Qxg2++
   n-1 ... Rxb2
   n-2 ... Qxe4
   n-3 ... Qb7

   but to safely get Rxb2 will mean forcing a break on the pin; White’s Queen has to go off to the right side of the board somehow. How to do that ... Black opens by advancing a pawn or two from columns G and H? hmmm ...

   1. ... Pxf5
   2. Pxf5 Qb7
   3. Qf3 Qxb2
   4. Rc2 Qb1+
   5. Qf1 ..?

   And we’ve moved the pin to the lower left corner, while eliminating 3 pawns. Can Black win with strength from this position? Is Qb6/7 the best retreat, since it resets the primary pin but with White’s Queen temporarily out of the way?

   5. Qf1 Qb6
   6. Qf4 ..? and we’re back at the beginning, pretty much. Crivens.

   Sorry Chris, I’m not seeing a way out of this without the juvenile queen/rook/queen/rook slaughter.

   Posted by Drew458       02/10/2012  at  10:18 AM  

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