2025/09/28 DPA: "Heavy Is The Piece That Lands On f7"

White to move:

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Black's King is stuck in the corner.

White's Queen is en prise as is Black's.  So is White's Rook and Black's Knight.

1. Qxg8+ Nxg8. 2. Rh7 would be checkmate but for 2. ... Qxh7.  Is there any way to remove/deflect the Queen?  I don't see any, at least not right now.

1. Rxg8+ Nxg8. 2. Qh1+ Kg7. 3. Qh7+ Kf8 and Black escapes.

1. gxf6 cxd5. 2. Rxg8+ Kxg8  3. fxe7 and Black cannot stop the e pawn

But what if 1. ... Nxf6?  If 2. Rxe7 Nxd5+, winning back the Queen.

If White can trade Queens and the Rook for both Knights, he will win the subsequent endgame, assuming his King can win the Black pawn and then cover the promotion square before Black can get there.

2. Qh1+ Nh7. 3. Qxh7+ Nxh7. 4. gxh7.

No, that's wrong:  the Rook is still on g7.

2. Qh1+ Kxg7.

Also, 1. gxf6 Qxf6+ is possible.

Obviously, if 1. Rxe7 Nxc5+.

1. Rh7+ Nxh7. 2. Qd4+ Qg7. 3. Qxg7+ Kxg7. 4. gxh7 Kxh7 and Black can sac his Knight for White's c pawn.

White has no time for a setup move due to 1. ... Nxc5+ [unless the setup move involves the Queen].

Forcing moves:

• A) 1. Rxg8+ Nxg8. 2. Qd4+
  • 2. ... Nf6. 3. Qxf6+ Qxf6. 4. gxf6 and White wins
  • 2. ... Qg7  and Black holds.  White wants to check on the h file but cannot
• B) 1. Qxg8+ Nxg8. 2. Rxe7 Nxe7 and Black holds.
  • 2. Rh7+ Qxh7. 3. gxh7 Kxh7 is no better.
• C) 1. gxf6 Qxf6+ and the Rook will fall [Black won't take the Queen due to Rh7#]
  • I think we can eliminate C because we can't allow Black to check and gain a tempo

1. Rh7+ is not forcing, as 1. ... Qxh7 is also possible and both Queens are en prise.

I sense I need my Queen so a Queen sac is out [for now].

1. Rxg8+ Nxg8:  what else can White do?

• 2. Qd4+ I already looked at
• 2. g7+ Qxg7
• 2. Qh1+ Kg7

One thing I haven't looked at yet is another long-distance Queen move:  1. Rxg8+ Nxg8  2. Qh1+ Kg7. 3. Qa1+.  But that allows 3. ... Kxg6.

I looked at possible Zugzwang after 1. Rxg8+ Nxg8. 2. Qd4+ Qg7. 3. Qd8 but that simply allows 3. ... Qxg6.

How about 3. Qd6?  But then 3. ... Qc3 [or some other square along the long diagonal].

Note that if the Queen were not on e7 but further away from the King, then Qh1+ Kg7  Qh7+ would skewer the King and allow winning the Queen.  But how to encourage the Queen to move away but still along the 7th rank?

Interesting but unsound:  1. Qf7 Qxf7. 2. gxf7 Kxg7. 3. fxg8+ Kxg8  4. gxf6 and White wins.  But 3. ... Nxg8 saves the Knight.

Also, 1. ... Qe4+ probably destroys this idea.  But it was innovative.

I see something:  1. Rxg8+ Nxg8. 2. Qf7 Qxf7  3. gxf7 and Black is stuck:  if 3. ... Kg7  4. fxg8(=Q)+ Kxg8 and White will promote his c pawn.  And if 3. ... Ne7  4. f8(=Q)+.  If the Knight moves to either f6 or h6, the g pawn will capture it.

And the beauty is that Black has no checks.  This feels right and I can't see a way for Black to defend.

There's also a cool sub-variation:  2. ... Nf6. 3. g7+ Kh7. 4. g8(=Q)^#.

But this won't be in the solution since 3. gxf6 wins also.

I was wrong.  1. Rg8 is not the correct move.  Why?

I see why:  2. ... Qf8 and now the White Queen is pinned and cannot play 3. Qh7# and 3. Qxf8 is Stalemate.

Diabolical.

How about this:  1. Qxg8+ Nxg8. 2. Rf7 - now 2. ... Qf8 does not work because 3. Rxf8 is not Stalemate.  So, same idea but using the Rook instead of the Queen.

That was it.

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The key was seeing the 2. Rf7 attacking move, which A) avoided the Stalemate if White sacced the Rook instead of the Queen; and B) put Black into a bind:  if he captures the Rook,  the pawn will recapture and will either promote or capture the Knight, leading to a won endgame.  If he moves the Queen off of the 7th rank, 3. Rh7#.  If he doesn't move the Queen, the Rook will capture it.

I saw the power of planting a heavy piece on f7 but I didn't see the Stalemate:  I was so impressed by finding the idea after so much work that I didn't go the extra mile and try to find a flaw in the plan.

I did find it but it took the assurance that 1. Rxg8+ was wrong to give me confidence that there must be a flaw, which made it easier to find [although not easy].

The clue was the enemy King trapped in the corner and the Solver Queen on f7:  it should have been screaming "Watch out for Stalemate" but I wasn't listening.

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1. Qxg8+ forces the Knight to recapture.  Now Rh7# becomes a possibility.

2. Rf7 forces Black to make a choice, all of them bad.  The one seemingly notable exception is 2. ... Nf6, which has many ways for White to err, the most obvious being 3. Rxe7 Nd5+, winning the Rook.  

3. Rh7#, now possible because the Queen has left the 7th rank.

Choosing 2. ... Nf6 would have made a difficult puzzle difficulter and would have lacked closure.

Check out the sub-variation 2. ... Nf6: