2024/05/26 DPA: "Attracting The Light [Squares] Fantastic"

White to move.

White is down a piece for a pawn.

Many of Black's forces do not look positioned well for defense [ie they are "window dressing"].

Especially vulnerable is the a2-g8 diagonal, particularly since Black's light-squared Bishop is blocked by the d Rook.

I thought of an Attraction sacrifice like 1. Qe6 to draw the King out to e6 and then 2. Bd5 to further draw it to d5 and then try to checkmate.  But White must prevent Black from retreating along the same path so maybe 3. f5 to block e6?  But Black has e5 also now.

1. Qe6+ Kf8. 2. Bd5.

That's complicated so let's finish the survey first.

Note that both Bishops, d Rook, and Queen cannot move; they are statues.

1. Qxe7 not only loses the Queen but unclogs Black's defense.

I don't see any obvious setup moves.  And Black threatens 1. ... d5, winning a Rook.

So back to my original idea, which appears complex enough for a Sunday puzzle [which is kind of cheating, allowing the day of the week to influence which solution I pursue but it's unavoidable].

1. Qe6+ Kxe6. 2. Bd5+ Kxd5. 3. f5 [must prevent 3. ... Ke6] gxf5. 4. gxf5.  But now I have to calculate any number of Black responses AND e5 is still open.  So maybe this is not the solution.

3. Re4 also prevents ... Ke6 and threatens 4. Rd3+ Kxe4. 5. Rd4#.

3. ... Kxe4. 4. Rd3 [threatens 5. Rd4#] Kxd3. 5. Nf2#.

Wow!

Now to make sure every move is forced or that White has an answer for everything:

• 1. Qe6+:  Black cannot block.  He can only move to f8 but that allows 2. Bd5, with checkmate coming on either f7 or g8.  So he must capture.
• 2. Bd5+:  again, no block is possible.  Neither is retreat.  Forced capture.
• 3. Re4:  Black doesn't have to capture the Rook.  He could also play 3. ... c5 to prevent 5. Rd4#.  But White doesn't care:  4. Rd3+ Kxe4. 5. Nf2# [because the Knight also guards the Rook
  • 3. ... Nc6 but White can capture or simply ignore it:
    • 4. Rd3+ Nd4. 5. Rxd4#
      • 4. ... Kxe4. 5. Nf2#
• 4. Rd3:  again, Black could play 4. ... c5 to prevent 5. Rd4# but 5. Nf2# still arrives

The solution was my first line, probably because it was the most aesthetic and involved saccing the most number of pieces.

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The key was attraction:  because Black's pieces couldn't aid in any defense but only needed a move or two to start getting untangled, White had to draw the King forward into the mating net rather than attack Black's forces.

I saw the Q & B sac quickly but 3. Re4 was the toughie to find for me.  But once I saw it, I intuited it was correct since the theme appeared to be working on the light squares [every King move was to a light square].  Then it was a matter of calculating that Black had no effective counter.

4. Rd3 was also somewhat problematic but since I had already seen 5. Nf2# in one variation, I was able to apply it to this line as well