Chess.com's Weekly Study: March 20th 2016
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[COMMENT DELETED]
Darthom59 wrote:
This one is tougher than the daily Puzzles, but I liked the challenge.
Yes, and no fpers and other time wasters for the most part, only those serious about the beauty of endgame compositions.
This study has a winsome charm involving underpromotion, multiple decoying sacrifices -- one accepted, three not -- into a threat of stalemate and finally a deflection that blocks Black's escape square and allows mate. If the deflection is not accepted, White has the rare double knight, crisscross mate; you only think of that with bishops. As a bonus, one major variation permits a knight fork into a K+B+N vs K ending. That's a lot of variety.
To make the game last as long as possible, Black could hold out to move 37 by going for the B+N mate mentioned by fightingbob. In another thread someone was looking for examples of the B+N mate, so here's one of numerous variations for the mate in 37.
1. N6c7 a1=N+ 2. Kb2 Nb3 3. Kxb3 Bc5 4. Bh2 Bg1 5. Bf4 Be3 6. Nb6 Kxb6 7. Nd5+ Kc5 8. Nxe3 Kd4 9. Nc4 Ke4 10. Be5 Kf3 11. Nd6 Ke3 12. Kc3 Kf3 13. Kd3 Kf2 14. Nf5 Kf3 15. Ng3 Kf2 16. Ke4 Kg2 17. Ke3 Kg1 18. Kf3 Kh2 19. Bd4 Kh3 20. Bg1 Kh4 21. Ne4 Kh5 22. Bd4 Kh4 23. Be5 Kh3 24. Ng5+ Kh4 25. Kf4 Kh5 26. Kf5 Kh4 27. Bf4 Kh5 28. Bg3 Kh6 29. Ne6 Kh5 30. Ng7+ Kh6 31. Kf6 Kh7 32. Nf5 Kh8 33. Bd6 Kg8 34. Kg6 Kh8 35. Bc5 Kg8 36. Nh6+ Kh8 37. Bd4#
fp
this needs more attention
Hello Chess.com!
Starting with 2016, we will be posting a Weekly Study, courtesy of Yochanan Afek, Grandmaster for composing endgame studies. These challenging positions are designed to stimulate (and improve upon!) your creativity, depth of calculation, pattern recognition and pure imagination.
A. Gurvich, 1930
Enjoy!