Wednesday 31 October 2012

Could you win this?

White to play
Taken from a game played at the ANU Chess Club earlier this evening. It looks pretty straight forward, but could you win this position, taking only 10 seconds per move?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes.

This is still easy. Play Ne4, Nc5 and so block the a7-g1 diaognal. Then play b6 and a7.

Anonymous said...

Sorry that should be Kb6.

Anonymous said...

Shortest win is 1.Nc8 and wins in 11. The suggested 1.Ne4 wins in 13.

Anonymous said...

What a position! Maybe Nc8+ followed by Kd7, then try for Ne7-c6#. Bishop will have to trade for knight, then a theoretical win with light squared bishop and light squared queening square.
If Ne4-c5, black just keeps his king on a7 then Kb6 cannot be played.

Anonymous said...

A straightforward winning strategy is 1 Kd7, aiming for c8 and then the N goes to c6. Black can delay this with 1...Kb8, but then the king has to return to a7 or else Nc6 will be mate. With the W king on c8, Nc6 forces ...Kb6 then a7 wins. I was trying for something like this in the game, but rushed it with the 10 sec increment. MP