Combinational Vision

I am learning something called combinational vision which Melikset Khachiyan talks about in his Technique of Calculation Video series.  Instead of moving the pieces in your mind move by move and seeing what comes of it, you take a look at the board and look for combinational outcomes.  In otherwords, you start with the possible favorable outcomes (given the pieces you have on the board) and work backwards from that point.  This has been very helpful for me.

(1) The white king is restricted to two squares.

(2) The white king is loose.

(3) The black rook on f3 can check the white king with Rf2+ and further restrict the black king to the h1 square.

(4) The black and white rooks on the g-file are facing.  If it were white's turn, he could take the black rook with check.  This is an important feature, becuase it means that every black move must come with check or black must capture the white rook on the g-file or he must move his rook to avoid capture or his attack must be so strong that he doesn't need to worry about the rook on g-file.  Since the rook on the g-file is restricting the white king, it is very important to keep it on the board.  This feature of the position reduces the amount of raw calculation that is required.  If you think of raw calculation as a mental muscle, you want to reduce the amount of calculation you have in a game to preserve this muscle so it doesn't get tired and make a mistake.  These types of features reduce the amount of lines you have to look at. 

(5) All of black's pieces are unprotected.  Black's pawn on h5 is also unprotected. This is a very important feature of the position, because it means that whatever black does, it better be quick or he will get murdered on material count.  The postion is very dynamic. 

(6) With the exception of the Knight on c3, black's pieces are also pretty loose.  The rook on g1 is protected once by the king and the rook on e5 is completely loose. 

Most of these features can be noticed within seconds and it not hard to see that this problem is about either a knight fork, winning the exchange, or it is about winning one of the rooks outright (possibly about winning the rook on g1) or it is about checkmate on a loose restricted king.

Next is to envision the possible outcomes.  Don't worry if these positions are achievable, just try to envision the possible favorable outcomes including all the piece captures and checkmates to the best of your ability:

These are six examples.  You might be able to come up with more, including the actual winning position.   The next question to ask is are they achievable.  Do any of them violate the condition of the position, especially #4 noted feature above.  (4) The black and white rooks on the g-file are facing.  If it were white's turn, he could take the black rook with check.  This is an important feature, becuase it means that every black move must come with check or black must capture the white rook on the g-file or he must move his rook to avoid capture or his attack must be so strong that he doesn't need to worry about the rook on g-file.  Since the rook on the g-file is restricting the white king, it is very important to keep it on the board. 

Position one is going to be hard to achieve because black g rook must go through g2 to get to h2 and white will see this and capture the rook on g2 with his g1 rook.  Position 2 has a problem with it because the black rook is occupying f3, so if the black rook is on f3 and moves to f2+, the knight can't move to f3 with check.  Position 3 has a problem because in order for white king to be restricted to the h1 square, the black rook must move to f2 and if it moves to f2, how can it get to the h3 square?  Position # 4 has the same problem as position #2.  Position # 5 involves at least two knight moves that will cause problems.  Position 6 has a problem because if the knight captures the e5 rook, he has done so without check and black rook on g1 is toast with check. These are important clues.  If the problem involves Nf3, it must be with the king on h2 not on h1 so the knight can check the king.

So knowing the vision you are trying to achieve, can you solve this 1700 problem?