Today i want to invite you to solve a study, which i saw in the lecture of GM Eugene Perelsteyn at chesslecture.com.
(W)
SOLUTION: Black king is almost mated if white can clear the e pawns. Hence his first move is obvious 1.e6! black must take the pawn 1...Qe6.The queen attacks the bishop and hence white has no time to push his e pawn. 2.Bf5! Its obvious to us now that the e pawn must not be allowed to move and hence black plays 2...Qe5! Its now time for white to tighten the noose around the black king.
(W)
We can see that if black were given the move he would happily escape with Kc2. Hence we must shut that opportunity with 3.Kd1! Blacks move is obvious now. the queen cannot move and the king is also boxed in. 3....e6. if black would have moved the a pawn then white would have simply snatched the pawn with Ne7 when black would run out of moves. But now the Bishop is attacked and white decides to defend it with 4.Bg6 (4.Bh7 would have been bad as it allows 4...Qh2 attacking the Bishop) the only way for black to continue now is to keep attacking the bishop and he plays 4...Qg7!
(W)
SOLUTION: Black king is almost mated if white can clear the e pawns. Hence his first move is obvious 1.e6! black must take the pawn 1...Qe6.The queen attacks the bishop and hence white has no time to push his e pawn. 2.Bf5! Its obvious to us now that the e pawn must not be allowed to move and hence black plays 2...Qe5! Its now time for white to tighten the noose around the black king.
(W)
We can see that if black were given the move he would happily escape with Kc2. Hence we must shut that opportunity with 3.Kd1! Blacks move is obvious now. the queen cannot move and the king is also boxed in. 3....e6. if black would have moved the a pawn then white would have simply snatched the pawn with Ne7 when black would run out of moves. But now the Bishop is attacked and white decides to defend it with 4.Bg6 (4.Bh7 would have been bad as it allows 4...Qh2 attacking the Bishop) the only way for black to continue now is to keep attacking the bishop and he plays 4...Qg7!
(W)
Now its time to include our knight in the game with 5.Ne7. the Knight is taboo and the threat is now to play e5 but black himself plays 5...e5! as the door slams shut on the Bishop its now the turn of the knight to harass the black king with 6.Nc6! the threat now is not only Nb4# but if black were to take the B then Ne5 wins with queen. So is it all over for black?
(B)
Good players are the one's who are ready to think from both sides! Here its important to find blacks only saving move with 6...a5! What we witness now is great camaraderie between the white Knight and the Bishop. the Knight sacrifices itself to let the Bishop win the laurels with 7.Ne5! the knight has to be taken 7...Qe5 and now its zugzwang time with 8.Bf5!!
(B)
I wouldnt be wrong if i say that many players would stop their calculation when they reach this position thinking its game over! And i can say that because i myself stopped here! But you would be very careless if you didnt check what happens to 8...Qe4! though this move loses, if you didnt see it, it means you are not alert to your opponents possibilities! And now comes the final point of the problem. taking the queen though leaves white with a pawn to the good, the active black king ensures that white will have nothing more than a draw and hence the right move is 9.Kc1!! after which black has only one move to play 9...Qf5 10.gf5 g4 and white king is just in time to stop the g pawn with 11.Kd1 when the f pawn queens!
It was amazing to see how the combination of the Knight and Bishop really outclassed the Queen!
