Before looking at where Black's king should go, let's take a minute to look at the other side of the board. White's king is in trouble. Only the knight on f3 is stopping black from mating in one, and that's not doing much; it's mate in 2 after ...Qf1+. If black can get the initiative, white is doomed. So white has to keep attacking. If the black king can get away, black will win this game.
Now back to black's king. It's in check from the queen, the queen can't be taken, so the black king has to move. Only two valid moves: h7 and f7.
Choice A: 1. ... Kh7. This leads to 2. Qh5+ Kg8, 3. Qe8+ Kh7, 4. Qh5+ and so on. Perpetual check, draw by repetition. White has avoided defeat.
Choice B: 1. ... Kh7. If the black king can reach the shelter of those pawns it's a forced mate for black. White can try to cut him off by playing Qd8, but in this position, unlike the Kh7 scenario, black's rook can help. It's a bit much to explain, click the Analysis button (little magnifying glass icon that appears after you solve the button) for the details. White can keep up the checks for a while, but can't stop the king from reaching the pawns, at which point White runs out of checks. Then the best white can do is bring the queen down to the first rank (taking the black knight and defending the white knight) but it's too little, too late, and black has mate in 5 from there.
A very hard problem, with many places either side could misplay and turn the tide.
For me the key was realizing that white is in a desperate situation despite having seized the initiative. Even if white tries to sacrifice the queen, it won't work. Black can decline the sacrifice and proceed with mate in 2. But suppose I'm wrong about that, and white somehow is able to trade queen for queen AND capture one of black's rooks. White is STILL totally losing.
The best White can do is draw, so the best move for black is the one that avoids that.
Can someone explain this puzzle to me
Hiiii!! :3 I really love playing chess, by the way, and I’m totally into puzzles ♟️♟️♟️♟️ I'm Russia :platinum :gold :blush
Before looking at where Black's king should go, let's take a minute to look at the other side of the board. White's king is in trouble. Only the knight on f3 is stopping black from mating in one, and that's not doing much; it's mate in 2 after ...Qf1+. If black can get the initiative, white is doomed. So white has to keep attacking. If the black king can get away, black will win this game.
Now back to black's king. It's in check from the queen, the queen can't be taken, so the black king has to move. Only two valid moves: h7 and f7.
Choice A: 1. ... Kh7. This leads to 2. Qh5+ Kg8, 3. Qe8+ Kh7, 4. Qh5+ and so on. Perpetual check, draw by repetition. White has avoided defeat.
Choice B: 1. ... Kh7. If the black king can reach the shelter of those pawns it's a forced mate for black. White can try to cut him off by playing Qd8, but in this position, unlike the Kh7 scenario, black's rook can help. It's a bit much to explain, click the Analysis button (little magnifying glass icon that appears after you solve the button) for the details. White can keep up the checks for a while, but can't stop the king from reaching the pawns, at which point White runs out of checks. Then the best white can do is bring the queen down to the first rank (taking the black knight and defending the white knight) but it's too little, too late, and black has mate in 5 from there.
A very hard problem, with many places either side could misplay and turn the tide.
For me the key was realizing that white is in a desperate situation despite having seized the initiative. Even if white tries to sacrifice the queen, it won't work. Black can decline the sacrifice and proceed with mate in 2. But suppose I'm wrong about that, and white somehow is able to trade queen for queen AND capture one of black's rooks. White is STILL totally losing.
The best White can do is draw, so the best move for black is the one that avoids that.
Thank you so much man!
I wouldn't agree, shelter behind the pawns, even with a help from the rook, is also perpetual check .. ?
This is the puzzle: https://www.chess.com/puzzles/problem/1922376
Black to move, the correct move is King to f7, and not h7.
Kf7 is marked as a great move by the engine, while Kh7 is marked as a miss, but I'm struggling to understand why... they seem like basically the same move to me, whatever you do isn't the white queen gonna give you endless checks until she can sacrifice herself to get white out of mate in 1 anyways?
Thanks!