Thursday, January 19, 2012

0 to winning in 60 seconds


White to move. How should White proceed? Can you solve this puzzle in less than 60 seconds?

Source: ChessToday.net

18 comments:

Anup said...

1. Qf5

1. ... g6
2. Qf8#

1. ... Rf5
2. Rd8+ Rf8
3. Rf8#

1. ... any other
2. Qh7#

Anonymous said...

RxB then black can refuse to recapture but then Rxh7 or if gxR then Qe5+ either way black is cooked he can only delay the inevitable.

Anonymous said...

Bd3 protects against Qxf2 and frees up whites Rook on the d file to join in the attack on blacks castled king.

Anonymous said...

Qf5

Anup said...

In my earlier post, missed out this line

1. Qf5 Kg8
2. Bd5+ Rf7 (Kh8 3. Qf8#)
3. Rd8#

Gery said...

Qf5

Anonymous said...

Qf7 looks good, g6 is forced and then:
2. Rd8 Rxd8
3. Qf6+ Bg7
4. Qxd8+ Bf8
5. Qxf8#
or
3. ... Kg8
4. Qxd8+ etc. should also be winning.
greets, jan

Cortex said...

Tricky!

Two tries are a chess version of the boomerang:
1.Rxh6?? Qxf2+! Δ2...Rc1+ with mate
1.Qf7 g6!

BUT

1.Qf7 g6
2.Rd8!! Rxd8
3.Qf6+ Δ4.Qxd8+ probably winning.

Is there a more convincing combination?

because Black has a good defense:

2...Qa3
3.Qf6+ Bg7

1.Qf5 (double threat) is meeted again by 1...g6 (double defense)

So...?

Anonymous said...

I fell into 1. Rxh6 initially but made a correction later with 1. Qf5. Unfortunately, it took more than 1 minute :(

mafergut said...

I think 1.Rxh6 wins the piece, because 1...gxh6 is replied by 2.Qe5+ forking king and rook

Anonymous said...

1. Rxh6, threatening
2. Rxh7+ Kg8
3. Rh8#

1. … gxh6
2. Qe5+ Kg8
3. Bd5+ Rf7
4. Bxf7+ Kxf7
5. Qxc3

Anonymous said...

Bxh7!

Anonymous said...

Df7
then Rxh6

Yancey Ward said...

No. Part of the problem, at least for myself, is that two other first moves get into my head, and I have to follow through on them. This is a another repeat, I believe, and I still jump to Qf5 first, followed by 1.Rh6:

1. Qf5? g6 (Rf5 2.Rd8+-)
2. Qe5 Bg7 and black still has it all under control.

I don't remember how long it took me last time to give up on this beginning and find the right move, but 1.Rf6 is a killer, but even if the move occurred to me immediately, I could not work it all out in anything less that 10 minutes, and even then, I still look to 1.Rh6 before 1.Rf6:


1. Rf6!! gf6 (Rf6 2.Qe8+-)

There are no good defenses. If black protects the rook at f8 with the queen [1. ...Qa3 2.Rh6! gh6 3.Qe5 Kg8 4.Bd5 Rf7 5.Qe8 Qf8 6.Bf7 Kg7 7.Qe5 Kf7 8.Qc3+-]. If black tries Rg8 he loses in a similar way: [1. ...Rg8 2.Rh6 gh6 3.Qe5 Rg7 4.Bd5! and mate is going to follow soon]. Or if black tries another square on the 8th rank: [1. ...Rd8 2.Rh6 gh6 3.Qf7! and the mate with Qh7 can only be delayed, not prevented]. The key feature of white's first move is that it denies black his counterplay move of Qf2+ sacrificing the queen at f2 to get a mating net- white's Rf6 cuts off black's rook's X-ray attack on f1- this is why an immediate 1.Rh6 is ineffective for white. Continuing from move 1 above:

2. Qh6 Rf7 (or get mated)
3. Bh7! Qa3 (Rh7 4.Qf8#; Qc4 4.Bd3)
4. Be4 Kg8
5. Qg6 Kf8

Or [5. ...Rg7 6.Bd5 Kf8 (or 6. ...Kh8 7.Qe8 Kh7 8.Qh5#) 7.Qf6 Ke8 8.Qg7+- (though 8.Bc6 and 9.Re1 might mate)]. Continuing:

6. Bd5 Qe7
7. Rb1 Rb3
8. Qh6 Ke8 (Kg8 9.Bf7; Rg7 9.Qh8)
9. Bf7 Kf7 (Kd8 10.Qd2;Qf7 10.Rb3)
10.Qh7 Ke8 (Ke6 11.Re1)
11.Qe7 Ke7
12.Rb3 wins easy from here.

Anonymous said...

Rxh6!

Anonymous said...

Qf7 should win

Anonymous said...

I kinda like Qf7, but what comes after I have no idea...

Will said...

1.Rxh6 gxh6 2.Qd4+ +-