Upgrade to Chess.com Premium!

Endgame Problem: Hidden Resources

This is a problem that I composed a few years ago. It has not been widely published, so the chances are that you will not have seen it before. It is not too complicated, but it does have some surprise twists.

Here it is, presented as a puzzle:
White to play and win. After the obvious 1.Rxd7 Kxd7?, 2.Bb5+ wins outright. But Black has a resource, namely 1...Ra8! This frees up the c8 square, making Kxd7 a real threat.
Now White has two pieces en prise, and 2.Bb5 leads nowhere. So what can he pull out of the hat here? Well he has the remarkable resource 2.Rd8+!!. White sacrifices a whole rook on an unoccupied square. After 2.Rd8+!! Rxd8, 3.Bb5+ Rd7, 4.f5! he has a permanent pin on the Black Rook.
Black is helpless, while White marches his King to c8, and captures the Rook.

Finally, here is the whole puzzle in one browser:
This us my first post on chess.com, and I hope you have enjoyed reading it. After lurking for a long time, it has been great fun to  finally play around with the editing tools. I have been very impressed by how easy it is to create an interactive experience for the reader.

Comments


  • 19 months ago

    sheardp

    Good point, oinquarki. Black does better to avoid the c4 square, and play Jb4 instead. It does not break the puzzle though.

  • 21 months ago

    oinquarki

    I sent this puzzle to my dad and he noticed that there's still one more trick up black's sleeve even after the rook is pinned.

  • 21 months ago

    oinquarki

    Brilliant!

  • 22 months ago

    sgolemi

    Very nice! My congratulations! For me, it was f5! the most difficult move. 

  • 2 years ago

    sheardp

    Thanks for your encouragement. I have composed more problems, and I will publish them here, when I get the chance.

  • 2 years ago

    Muetdhiver

    2. Rd8+ was straightforward for me (convert material advantage to positional advange). the more difficult was to find 4. f5! and figure the plan for the king's journey (convert the positional advantage to a material advantage).

    Good educational analysis and of course very nice puzzle. I'm ready to track your blog if you have others endgame puzzle ;)

  • 2 years ago

    ninevah

    Very nice puzzle. I like how each piece and pawn have their role but it's the king that finishes the game.

Back to Top

Post your reply: