Chess Problem -3
Submitted by
sanjayd1998 on Sat, 06/27/2009 at 4:44am.
At the moment all White's mating threats are covered by the four black pieces on the back rack, so how can white break the deadlock?White to play and mate in two.
Hint:If you check all black's available moves, you will find that all but two allow mate in one. So you need to find the two defenses, and work out how White can set up a mating reply for them.
White can not mate immediately because of the four black pieces on the back rank, for example Rh4 mate is prevented by the bishop on d8. Likewise, the other pieces stop e3 mate, Qf5 mate and Nd5 mate. But the fact that each black piece has a responsibility proves to be Black's undoing, because they can hardly move without stepping on each other's toes. After 1...Re7 for example, White can play 2 Rh4 mate, while Re6 blocks the other bishop and allows Nd5 mate. Indeed, in the diagram position Black has only two moves which can not be met by immediate mate, namely 1...Bg5 and 1...Re3. If only White can prepare mate for these moves, then black will be obliged to fatally weaken himself. What weakness is created by 1...Re3? The answer can only be that it blocks e3, and therefore the bishop on g1 is freed to deliver mate by Bh2. Thus the first move must be with the rook on h2, but should it move to h2 or h3? The answer is provided by the other possible defense, 1...Bg5. This blocks g5 and frees the queen to mate by Qh2. So the solution is the unlikely-looking 1.Rh1! There is no threat, but nevertheless Black has no defense. Here is the full list of variations.
1...Re7/Rf6/Bxc7/Bh4 2 Rh4 (or Rxh4)
1...Re6/Rf7/Bxh7/Bd5 2 Nd5 (or Nxd5)
1...Re5 2 Qg4
1...Re4 2 fxe4
1...Re3 2 Bh2
1...Rxe2+ 2 Nxe2
1...Be7/Be6 2 e3
1...Bf6/Bf7/Rf5 2 Qf5 (or Qxf5)
1...Bg5 2 Qh2
1...c3 2 Nd3
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