Thursday, July 02, 2009

Tricky puzzle


Troitzky, 1925

White to move and win. Note: It's very tricky!

2B2K2/7k/P7/8/8/p1r5/8/8 w - - 0 1
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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Send to Judit!
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/endgames/politicalmusics-daily-endgame-puzzle-july-3-2009

Anonymous said...

The puzzle is wrong.

Kf7+ wins immediately.

Anonymous said...

1. Bf5+ if 1... Kh6 2. a7 and 3. a8 = Q should win

if 1... Kh8 2. a7 a2 3. a8 = R! (not 3. a8 = Q, 3... a1 = Q 4. Qxa1 is stalemate) wins

Anonymous said...

Wrong. She said it's tricky.

shyamal said...

After 1.Bf5+, Kh8, 2.a7, a2. 3.a8=Q, a1=Q, then white can try 4.Qb8, and any check white king moves and its mate in next move. Not analysed deeply, may be theres a flaw.

CowboyNoel said...

Do we ever get the answer?

Umesh::ഉമേഷ് said...

1. Bf5+ Kh8 (1...Kh6 2. a7 wins.) 2. a7 a2 3. a8R! (3. a8Q? a1Q! 4. Qxa1 stalemate).

Now, W threatens 4. Kf7 mate. Now, 3...Rc7 can be answered with 4. Ra6/Ra4/Ra3. (4. Rxa2? Rf7+ draws.) There must be a trick here, making only one of these possible; I cannot see it.

Anonymous said...

It's very tricky ... because it is a draw not a win.

Yancey Ward said...

I think white should knock black over the head and take the rook off the board so that he can take the new black queen when the time comes.

Anonymous said...

It is really a very tricky draw.

1. Bf5

If
1. ... Kh6
2 a7 is an easy win

If

1. ... Kh8
2. a7 a2

If

3. a8(Q) a1(Q) is a draw

If

3. a8(R) a1(Q)
4. Rxa1 Rc1 !! and it's still a draw

HT

Anonymous said...

Not tricky (as a draw) really:

1. Bf5! Kh8!
2. a7! a2!
3. a8=Q! a1=Q!
4. Qxa1= ... nothing better

I wonder where the idea that this position is a win came from.

Umesh::ഉമേഷ് said...

It is a draw. Nalimov endgame tablebase (http://www.k4it.de/index.php?topic=egtb&lang=en) shows that clearly.

So, it must be really tricky.

Thanks a lot, the anonymous @Friday, July 3, 2009 10:41:00 AM CDT!

Tartuffe said...

Anon #2 was right--the puzzle diagram was misprinted, but it was caught and changed. The original one had a trivial move to win, but I stared at it for a long time because Susan said it was tricky! I doubted myself for you, Susan! So it was a good lesson after all to trust that I was actually right.

Now it's actually tricky.