Thursday
Jan102013
Fortress! Or Not?
Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 10:45PM
The current issue of Chess Life (January 2013) has a short article by correspondence chess Senior International Master Wesley T. Brandhorst, and it's about this position.
It's White to move. Can he breach the fortress, and if so, how? The answer, and more details, here.
tagged correspondence chess in Endgames
Reader Comments (3)
I think there's a simpler win, conceptually, starting with Qf6. If White can trade his current Queen for the Knight without the Bishop being able to retake it (to win the a7 pawn), White wins. If White can trade the Queen for the Bishop he has to watch out for tricks because of his trapped King, but I believe that can be avoided. I'm still working on the variations, though, and it will probably take me all day as I working on it intermittently.
Looking at it now. Qf6 wins much more easily than Brandhorst's move - except for one lousy variation! Black responds with ... Kd5 and I'm stymied, though I'm still looking for an out.
[DM: That's a large part of the point - witness my suggested and self-refuted alternative in the notes.]
The more I look at this the more I appreciate Brandhorst's solution. However, if that's in fact the only way to win I think I'd take my chance with my Qf6 suggestion and if the opponent played ... Kd5 just shake hands. I don't think I have any chance at all of winning with Q vs Kn+B, and I'd be concerned about dropping the Queen and walking into a lost ending. I may test that with Fritz 7 over the next few hours, or I may just through up my hands and call it a day!
What a position .... [walks away shaking head]