Beautiful Puzzles and Studies - 1/7

The Puzzle

White to play and find the best continuation. This is from White's perspective.

Solution

WARNING: By scrolling down you are ready to see the solution and have attempted to solve it.

White has a passed c6 pawn, and so White is trying to win this game. The only way to win for white is ...

c7! Now black must give a check with Rd6+.

Here we have 5 options with the king, as listed. 3 of them draw, one loses, and only 1 wins. What would you play? Let's go through them individually.

Kb7/Ka7

These two moves are the easiest to refute, as Black will play Rd7, pinning our pawn, and is guaranteed a draw. We will not be able to queen our pawn, and black will, if necessary, sac the rook for the remaining pawn and it will end in a draw.

Kc5

Kc5 results in a draw due to Rd1 (d2 and d3 also suffice), and if white queens Black is ready with Rc1+ skewer (actually winning the game), otherwise Rc1+ will come followed by taking the pawn.

Ka5

The worst of the lot, Ka5 actually loses badly to Rc6, and White will lose the pawn for free.

So, by process of elimination, our winning move is

Kb5

However, Black can check us again, right? Rd5+, then what do we do. No matter, we continue coming down with Kb4 Rd4+ Kb3 Rd3+ and only now we play Kc2. Observe the path and the unique walk we had with our king.

This position looks hopeless for Black...he can't save the rook and stop the promotion simultaneously. Or can he? Black has a very nifty trick up his sleeve; that is to play Rd4. What do you do as White?

Promote the pawn, of course! To a queen, right? Well, that would be a horrific blunder, because Black has the amazing save Rc4+!. If you don't take the rook you will lose the queen and the game, so Qxc4 is forced, but so is a stalemate and a draw. So the solution is to play ...

c8R! We promote to a rook and threaten checkmate as well. No matter, Black plays Ra4, stopping it. Are we out of resources? Is this going to be a draw?

Absolutely not! What's the final move you play to force resignation from Black?

The Final Nail in the Coffin

Kb3! Now we see the whole idea. We are threatening Rc1# as well as the rook on a4. Black can't save both threats, and must lose a rook and will eventually get mated.

Here is the full study with the entire solution, alternative lines, as well as annotations to help you.

Hope you enjoyed this study, and make sure to stay tuned for the 2nd puzzle, which will be just as equally exciting and thrilling. Cheers!