Test your chess: Reitstein problem 15

Black to play and win

White has just played 1 b4.

Worth spending some time on.

HE Price v J Tsalicolgou, SA Championship, 1975

Solution

One of Purdy's maxims is to ignore threats, and consider at least for a moment what your preferences would be if the threat could not possibly be executed.

Applying this approach, the solution 1…f3!, becomes apparent. White hasn't time to both capture the rook and bring his rook to the f file. So 0-1; one line being 2 Rh8 f2 3 Rf8 Rf5.

Or so I thought. Or so Reitstein thought. But wrongly.

If you thought the same, have another look before reading on.

Position after 1...f3

Having drafted the blog, and checked the answer – very brief, just 1…f3! and a few words, I loaded the position into Stockfish and was amazed to find -0.8. But so it is: or at least, it is not a simple 0-1. White has 2 Rh6+! when 2…Kf7 is forced: 2…Ke5?? 3 Rh5+ skewers the rook and gets to a1 in time; 2…Ke7 is a repetition after 3 Rh7+. So (2…Kf7) 3 Rd6! and white gets back in time after both 3…f2 4 Rd1 or the better 3..Rf5! 4 Rd1 Ke6! (using the trick 5 Kd3 Rd5+ 0-1- the king can't go to e2 because of the Pf3- to advance with tempo). We have a rook ending which could well be won for black, but there are still moves to be played.

Posted with Blogsy