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Bughouse Quiz 3 |
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Bughouse Quiz 3 |
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This is installment #3 in my bughouse quizzes. If you haven't seen the first installment yet, I suggest you try that one first. (Here's a link to get there.) This quiz is a little tougher than the first one, and it includes three double board problems.
For the first six positions on this page, the rules are the same as in the first quiz: You are White, and your goal is to find the forced wins, subject to the following conditions:
Following these six positions are the three double board problems, along with the rules to follow when solving those problems.
The answers are included after the diagrams --
to check an answer to a specific problem, click on the number
for that problem. The single board problems appear next...
            
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For the double board problems that follow, pretend that you have a partner you are in communication with. (You're the smart one, of course.) It is your team's move on both boards. Using both boards, work out a plan to force a win.
In addition to showing the board positions and pieces in hand, you'll
note the double board diagrams have clocks showing the time remaining
for each player. These clocks may be a factor in the solution, so be
sure to consider them.
 
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#1
In this position, White would have immediate mate if the queen could just safely move to e6, so White gives the queen that support: 1. B@f5+! any@e6 (or 1...Kd6 2. Qe6mate) 2. Qxe6mate.
Yes, this is a very simple idea, but you'd be surprised how many buggers
would miss it in a game, instead playing one of those so-called
"contact checks" with 1. B@e6 or 1. P@e6. After, for example,
1. B@e6 Ke7! 2. Bxd5+ P@e3!, Black is still alive and kickin'.
Back to questions
#2
In the ever-lively debate on whether bishops in hand are more useful than knights or the other way around, here's a point in favor of the knights: After 1. Qh5+!, Black interposes a defender on g6, but then 2. N@e5+! attacks both the king and the defender. The double attack essentially wins a tempo, removing the defender, and then it's a routine win. So, the winning line is 1. Qh5+! and now:
#3
With Black's powerful army off the board, White had better start his attack right now. The most obvious try is 1. P@d7+, but Black avoids mate after 1...Kf8, e.g. 2. d8Q+ R@e8! or 2. R@c8+ R@d8! Clearly, as soon as White runs out of checks, Black will take control with his own mating attack, starting with ...Nh3+.
There's a couple of ways to win this, both involving a rook sacrifice. (It wasn't
my intent to have two solutions for this puzzle, but the second solution, found by
Vassili Sukharev, is pretty cute, so I think I'll just say this is a problem with a dual
solution.) The first solution starts with 1. R@c8+!.
After 1...Rxc8 (of course, if 1...any@d8 2. Rdxd8mate)
2. P@d7+ Kf8 3. dxc8+ any@e8 4. Nd7+ Kg8 5. Qxe8+ any@f8 6. Qxf8mate.
The alternative solution is 1. R@g8+! Rxg8 2. P@d7+ Kf8 3. d8Q+ and
now, since g8 is not available as an escape square, N@d7 will be mate.
Back to questions
#4
This position is from a game between Maarten Aronsson, aka "Firefly", and Gnejs, with colors reversed. (Firefly is yet another super-strong bugger from Sweden -- what's in the water over there?) If you want to play through the whole game, check out game 2 of my annotated games, or download game #14069 in the bughouse database on TAsunder's Web page. For you self-study advocates, TAsunder's database is an excellent place to examine the games of top players. (It's also a great place to look for suitable positions for these quizzes - I'm going to have to start using it a lot!)
The forced mate found by Firefly is 1. Q@g8+!! Kxg8
(not 1...Rxg8 2. Nxf7mate) 2. N4xf6+ Qxf6 3. Nxf6+ Kh8
4. P@g7+ Kxg7 5. N@h5+ Kh8 6. P@g7mate. Since Firefly used only
28 seconds for the entire game, I think it's safe to say it only took
him a few seconds to find this combination -- I don't know about the rest
of you, but I'm impressed.
Back to questions
#5
Despite his exposed king, Black would appear to have plenty of defensive
support from his pieces, but watch what happens! The mate starts with White's
bishops jumping in on opposite ends of the long diagonal:
1. B@d4+ any@e5 2. B@h8+ any@g7. Then comes a flashy rook
sac to close the side door: 3. R@e6+! Now 3...fxe6 allows
4. Q@g6mate, and the other four captures available to Black allow mate in
two, e.g. 3...Qxe6 4. Q@h6+ any@g6 5. Nh5mate. It's kind
of a macabre finish, actually. The king ends up imprisoned in his own tomb.
Back to questions
#6
Levitsky-Marshall bugified! Black can't stop mate after the stunning piece drop 1. Q@g6!! Now if 1...fxg6 2. N@e7+ Qxe7 3. Nxe7+ Kh8 4. Rxf8+ any@g8 5. Rxg8mate or 1...hxg6 2. N@e7+ Qxe7 Nxe7mate. That leaves as the main line 1...Qxg6 2. Ne7+ Kh8 3. Nxg6+ fxg6 (or 3...Kg8 4. N@e7mate) 4. Rxf8+ any@g8 5. N@f7mate. Almost makes you want to shower the board with gold coins, doesn't it?
There are also a slew of moves to decline the queen sac, but none of them
stop mate either: (a) 1...B@f5 2. N@e7+ Qxe7 3. Nxe7+ Kh8 4. Rxh7mate,
or (b) 1...R@h8 2. N@e7+ Qxe7 3. Nxe7mate,
or (c) 1...Re8 2. Qxf7+ Kh8 3. Qf8+ Rxf8 4. Rxf8+ any@g8 5. N@f7mate,
or (d) 1...Bxh3 2. N@f6+ Qxf6 3. Nxf6+ Kh8 4. Qh7mate,
or (e) 1...h6 2. N@f6+ Qxf6 3. Nxf6+ Kh8 4. Qh7mate,
or finally (f) 1...R@h4/h5/h6 2. N@f6+ 3. Qxf6 Nxf6+ 4. Kh8 Qxh7+ 5. Rxh7 Rxh7mate.
Back to questions
#7
I have a feeling I'm one of the few bughouse players who thinks this, but I think most buggers play the openings way too routinely -- you just see them rattle off the same opening sequence game after game. I think that's a mistake because it ignores the dynamic nature of bughouse openings. For example, if your partner gets you a given piece early, maybe dropping that piece on a certain square would be better than the opening sequence that normally gets played, or at least force your opponent to think about a new position.
Another opportunity that sometimes comes along early in the game and almost always gets missed is, to invent a new phrase, the "early sitz-krieg". Keep in mind that, early in the game, off-board material tends to be in short supply, so blocking a simple threat may turn out to be not so easy. If your opponent has to wait for that blocker but your partner refuses to give him one, your team notches a quick kill. All of which brings us to the diagrammed position...
Noting the kamikaze style adopted by the White opponent this game, the White player hits the breaks for just a second. Seeing the opportunity for a quick knockout, the Black player alertly plays 1...Qf6! All Black threatens is a kiddie mate, but the White opponent needs a blocker to stop it effectively.
The rest is all grins and giggles: The White opponent sends a message to his partner asking for a blocker. His partner sends a message back saying he is still waiting for his opponent to move. Meanwhile, you and your partner are gloating about your opponents' dilemma, laughing till the beer foam comes out of your nostrils. (Bughouse has never been this much fun.) Finally, the White opponent concedes the inevitable and plays 2. f6, and the White player gets Black the pawn he needs for mate by playing 1. Bxh6! -- not the move you normally see in this opening, but certainly correct in this case.
Well, I suppose there is just one more strategic point that should be mentioned here: some players, when they are on the receiving end of this squeeze, will try to steal the point by letting their clocks run down to :01 or :02 and then launching into hyper-blitz mode. Personally, I think this is a legitimate attempt at a swindle, and I would never condemn anyone for trying it. I also think that, properly countered and discounting lag, it will never work. When you realize your opponents are going to try this, there is a simple way to handle it:
#8
Well, I was thinking it wouldn't be right for this quiz to show Gnejs only in a losing effort (you'll recall he was on the losing end of the combo for problem #4), so I decided to base one of these double board problems on an idea I saw in a Gnejs game. After all, not only did Gnejs contribute greatly to my universally acclaimed article Top Ten Ways To Tell You Have a Bad Bughouse Partner, he is a terrific guy and a close personal friend. Why just the other day, Andre (as his close personal friends call him) and I met at the Goteborg Tennis Center to play a little Mixed Doubles with our close personal friends Inga and Victoria, then the four of us got together at the hot tub for a little bughouse. And, while I thought Andre was a little harsh on Victoria when she stopped moving at one point to empty the bubbles from her swimsuit, I have to say that, all in all, it was a pretty great time. But I digress...let's get to the solution for this problem.
Checking the clock situation first, you'll notice you and your
partner each have only a ten second lead over your respective diagonal
opponents, but if you have the board sight of Gnejs,
that is more than enough time to see that:
(a) the Black player can force mate if he gets a rook, and
(b) there is a quick way for the White player to capture a rook.
White plays 1. Nxf5! anyxf5 2. Nxd5 Qany 3. N@e7+ Kany 4. Nxc8
to give his partner a rook. With a rook now in hand, Black forces mate
by 1...Nh3+! 2. Kh1 (2. gxh3 R@h1mate; 2. Kf1 R@g1mate)
2...R@g1+! 3. Rxg1 Nf2mate. Okay, it's not brilliant,
but it is cute, and I think the kiss he got from
Inga was well-deserved.
Back to questions
#9
At first glance, this final double-board problem may look too un-bughouse-like to ever occur in a real bughouse game, but actually it's not all that bizarre. So, for you pragmatists who refuse to look at a chess problem unless the position looks like one that could occur in a real game, let me start by suggesting an entirely valid scenario that could lead to the problem position:
The White player got an attack going but probably started his attack too early. He spent a lot of time sitting, waiting for more pieces so he could continue his attack. His diagonal opponent, had he noticed the White player had stopped moving, would have been wise to stop moving also, but that didn't happen. White eventually got the material he needed to continue his attack, got his opponent's king into the middle of the board, and finally reached a mating position with ten seconds left on his clock.
Realizing he was getting mated, White's opponent sat for awhile, then tried to sneak in one more move. (As it turns out, this is the losing move.) Meanwhile, the players on the other board had to keep going and ended up playing regular chess. They eventually reached an endgame, while the players in the first game watched the offboard material load up like the nosh pit at a Grateful Dead concert.
See, like I said, this scenario isn't so unrealistic. Now for some commentary on how your team has performed so far. First, the White player has screwed up big time. (Since we did establish earlier that you are "the smart one", let us therefore assume now that you are the one with the Black pieces.) Your partner managed to get to a position where he forces mate, and he's probably feeling pretty good about that, maybe even sending you a message that reads something like, "Mate forced, awright!!" In fact, it is going to be up to you to win this game. All your partner accomplished by reaching a mating position was ensuring himself that he would not lose on time.
Now let's do a little quick math on the time situation: the Black opponent has 2:30 on his clock, while you have 1:00. In other words, your diagonal opponent has more than twice as much time as you do. This means, assuming normal lag, that you can't win on the clocks if you and your opponent both move at about the same pace, i.e. running the Black opponent's clock out won't work if your opponents realize that's all you are trying to do. Of course, if your plan is to make up the time difference by forcing lag in some way, then I hope your hard drive crashes and you die from the shock.
Okay, the requirements to win this one are pretty well established now -- you, the Black player, will have to force mate, and all you have to work with are a knight and whatever piece your partner gives you with his next move. No pressure.
The correct move for your partner is 1. Bxe4!, giving you a pawn as he sets himself up for mate next move. (Obviously, there are a zillion ways for White to mate here, but this is the only correct move, as it is the only move that gives Black a vital pawn to work with.) Of course, you would like to turn this pawn into a queen by dropping it on the seventh rank and promoting it next move. The problem, however, is that your opponent will counter this pawn drop by dropping his bishop to cover the queening square.
All right, that's enough hints, so if you haven't solved the problem yet, go back and take another look at it.
The winning maneuver for Black is 1...Kd5 2. Kd7 Ke5 3. Ke7 Kf5 4. Kf8 Kf6! (not 4...Kg6? 5. Kg8 Kf6 6. Kf8! and Black can't make progress: 6...Kf5 7. Kg7! Ke6 8. Kg8! Ke7 9. Kg7). 5.Kg8 Kg6 6. Kxh8 Kf7! With no other moves, White must drop his bishop somewhere, allowing Black to promote his pawn; for example, 5. Bc4+ Kf8! 6. Bd5 P@c2, followed by 7...c1Q and 8...Qa1mate.
Of course, White can avoid getting his king trapped by not capturing the knight on h8, but Black has a won position after he eliminates White's last pawn on h7. However, Fabrice Liardet pointed out that this is a lot more complicated than I made it sound in the original version of this article. After working on this ending for awhile, we eventually came up with what is probably the most straightforward way to win it:
Getting back to the main analysis: sure, I suppose it is possible that, in the entire history of bughouse, no one has ever won a game by creating a zugzwang position where his opponent was forced to drop his last piece. (Would this be "bugzwang"?) So, maybe players who are not aware of this trick are not missing much. However, this problem does illustrate two strategic points that have definite practical value:
And that concludes installment #3 in my bughouse quizzes.
For future bughouse quizzes, I would be more than happy to include
positions sent to me by other players. So, the next
you pull off a particularly clever and instructive bughouse mate and
you'd like to show the world your concept, send me the position and
solution in some decipherable form. If I like the idea, I'll include
it in a future quiz and give you proper credit!
Here's my E-mail.
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