Curious Chess Composition 2
Logic
Level
4
It is white to move. Assuming optimal play from black, what is the best move for white in this position?
- Each piece has a value: Pawn = 1, Knight = 2, Bishop = 3, Rook = 4, Queen = 5, King = 6.
- The bottom left square has coordinates
- Submit your answer as where is the value of the piece being moved and is the square it is being moved to
- If you don't believe that there are any good moves for white, enter your answer as 0
The answer is 50.
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1 solution
Firstly, note that the black queen can come to e1 on black's next move which would deliver checkmate. One way for white to prevent this is to block the queen's passage to e1, or to protect the e1 square. The only way in which either of these can happen is for the knight on d4 to move to either e2, e6 or f3. These are redundant moves in any way other than delaying checkmate since the knight would be taken and the threat of checkmate would still be alive. (Also, moving the knight would allow the queen to be able to block on the next move, but this is also pointless)
The other way to prevent this checkmate is to deliver check to the opposing king. Checking with either the bishop or knight is redundant as they can be blocked or taken. The only other option is for the queen to give check. Queen to c8 is pointless as it can be taken and the only other check is Rook to c3, to which the series of sacrificial checks is short lived. However, Queen to c7 forces the king to take the queen on c7. Now the bishop can take the pawn on d6, forking the black king and queen. The only way to prevent losing the black queen is to take the bishop with either the king or queen. Depending on black's choice of piece to take with, the white knight can then jump to either b5 or f5, winning the black queen via a fork. This queen can be taken, which averts the threat. Black now has no new threats, and due to a vast material advantage, white will win this game.