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Bughouse Quiz 2 |
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Bughouse Quiz 2 |
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This is installment #2 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 second 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, Black has an inadequately guarded back rank with only pawns in hand. The situation screams out for a check on the back rank: 1. Q@g8+!. With no pieces to drop on the back rank, 1...Re8 is necessary, when 2. P@e7+! finishes matters. The tactical point is that after 2...Nxe7 White's knight is unpinned, so 3. Nxf7+ Kc8 4. Qxe8+ forces mate. White also mates after 2...Kc8 3. Qxe8+ or 2...Kxe7 3. Qxf7+ Kany 4. Qxd7mate.
While checking on the back rank when the opponent has only pawns
in hand is a simple idea that occurs frequently,
pulling it off can be tricky sometimes, mainly because partner has to
be in on the plot. All it takes to spoil White's plan is a
partner who keeps moving and allows an exchange. As soon as White's
opponent gets a piece that can be dropped on the back row,
that's where the piece goes, and the plan falls through.
Back to questions
#2
Here's a position that combines two queen sacrifices, the first to
force a smothered mate, the second to set up a double check.
The mate is 1. N@h6+! gxh6 (the smothered mate
arises after 1...Kh8, i.e. 2. Q@g8+! Rxg8 3. Nxf7mate)
2. Q@g7+!! Kxg7 3. Nf5+ Kg6 (or 3...Kg8 4. Nxh6mate)
4. Qg4+ any@g5 5. Nh4mate. Aside from the queen sacs,
the interference plans on moves 3 and 4 are worth noting -- the knight's
placement on f5 creates interference for the queen (allowing the queen
check), and the queen check creates interference for the knight
(allowing the mate).
Back to questions
#3
There's only one subtle problem in Black's otherwise solid defensive formation: he is a little weak on the dark squares. When an opponent is weak on the squares of one color, diagonal movers are often the best attackers, and this position is an example.
The mate starts with a move that threatens mate two different ways:
1. P@e7!, threatening Q@d8mate or Q@f8mate. (Less
convincing is 1. P@f6 B@f8.)
Black's only defense is to take the pawn, drawing the king to a
dark square, and then diagonal power rules:
1...Kxe7 2. P@f6+! gxf6 (if 2... Kd8 3. B@e7+ Kany 4. Q@d8mate)
3. exf6+ Kxf6 4. B@g5+! (White has just enough
to finish Black off. Note if White had carelessly used his bishop
for one of the earlier moves and had only a pawn left to check on g5,
Black could survive with 4...Ke7. The bishop check prevents the escape
to e7, and then it's easy:)
4...Kxg5 (if 4...Kg7 5. Q@h6mate; if 4...Kg6 5. Q@f6+
Kh5 6. Be2+ any@g4 7. Qh6mate) 5. h4+ Kany 6. Q@g5mate.
Back to questions
#4
Some diversionary tactics take place in this one - White uses one mating threat to set up other threats. The key move is 1. B@c6!, threatening R@e8. After 1...bxc6 2. dxc6 Nf6 Black has succeeded in stopping this mate, but now there is a new mate: 3. R@e8+! Nxe8 4. N@b7+ Ke7 5. Nd5+ Ke6 6. Ng5mate. Black's alternatives to 2...Nf6 just lose more quickly:
#5
Okay, this one is kind of tough, so if you didn't get it, here's a hint: the mating piece is the bishop on a8!
The forced mate is:
1. Rh5+! (taking away h4 as an escape square for the
black king) 1...any@h4 2. Bd7+! Bxd7 3. Qxf3+!! exf3
4. P@g2+! fxg2+ 5. Bxg2mate! It's remarkable how the
"Black Sea" parted for the bishop! As a final note, observe
that the order of moves is important here, i.e.: (a) 1. Bd7+? Kh4, or
(b) 1. Qxf3+? exf3 2. Rh5+ Rh4+!, or finally
(c) 1. Rh5+ any@h4 2. Qxf3+? exf3 3. Bd7+ Rg4+!
Back to questions
#6
This idea was inspired by a letter from Fabrice Liardet, who wrote,
in commenting about my article Top Ten
Ways to Tell You Have a Bad Bughouse Partner:
I read with great interest and pleasure your bughouse article. There is
not much I can add to Anders Ebenfelt's compliments: yes, it is the best
bughouse strategy page on the net and yes, in bughouse there is nothing
more important than team play.
There is one point that I was surprised not to see, especially in Gnejs'
notes: the importance of drops which attack and defend at the same time.
Of course this is one-board strategy which is not really the subject of
your article, but I think it must be said anyway.
For instance it justifies the Gnejs' scale for material values, with
which I agree completely. I also think that bishops are slightly
stronger than knights, because they can more often be dropped in an
"attack-defense" position. Everyone knows the great (say black) bishop
drops on b4 checking and winning a d6 pawn or knight, or on a5 checking
and defending c7, but there are some other common and very effective
attack-defense drops, for instance B@g4 defending e6 and attacking the
kingside's white squares.
In positions where kings are not wide open, every attacking drop can
usually be countered satisfactorily by a defensive drop, and vice versa.
Hence the importance of attack-defense moves, which often prove
decisive. They usually win either a tempo, either a pawn that the
opponent drops to deflect the piece from attack, and often win some time
as well because the opponent has to face unexpected problems.
The difficulty is that this type of move is sometimes hard to find and
requires a pattern recognition which is completely special to bughouse.
But I am definitely convinced that it is one of the secrets of Bughouse
Gods.
Fabrice Liardet
Well, Fabrice makes some good comments about an important tactical device in bughouse, the "attack-defense" piece drops. Top Ten Ways To Tell You Have a Bad Bughouse Partner focuses on team play, not bughouse tactics (as Fabrice says) so I don't think comments about attack-defense moves need to be in that article. However, we can certainly work the idea into this tactically-oriented bughouse quiz, so here is an example:
Despite appearing to be badly outmanned in the diagrammed position, White has a cute mating idea: he doesn't have a queen to drop, but he can build his own by dropping a pawn on a7. If the White king were in no danger, the fastest mate would start with 1. B@c4+ b5 2. P@a7, threatening 3. a8=Q+ or 3. axb8=Nmate. However, Black has a cute mating idea of his own in this position: he plans to meet 1. B@c4? b5 2. P@a7? by 2...Qxg2+! 3. Kxg2 P@f3+ 4. Kany P@g2mate.
So the situation is pretty clear -- if White is going to pull this one out, he has to figure out a way to attack and defend at the same time. The key move is: 1. B@f1+!! B@d3!? (the best try, hoping for 2. Bxd3? b5, when Black renews his mating threats) 2. B@c4+! (but not 2. Bc4+? Bxc4! 3. Bxc4+ b5!) 2...any@b5 (or 2...Bxc4 3. Bbxc4) and now White can play the key pawn drop: 3. P@a7!. Black has no defense:
#7
White has mating chances here, and Black is ahead on the clock. With time advantage, it would be good technique for Black to sit for the moment, waiting to see what develops. So, White starts with 1. Ndc6+ and, being careful to move quickly enough to keep his partner ahead on the clock, continues after 1...Bxc6 with 2. Nxc6+ Kc8. (If 2...Ke8, White's partner plays 1...Qxc3! on his board, giving White mate by 3. N@f6+ gxf6 4. Nxf6.)
Now White sees that 5. P@b7+ Kxb7 6. B@a6 would be mate if he had a pawn to drop, so he quickly sends a message to his partner asking for a pawn. And that's Black's cue to spring into action with 1...Qxh2! -- no credit for any other moves! In this position, it is imperative to take the pawn immediately, since White is behind on the clock. If Black plays something like 1...Bg4 to win mating material without sacrificing, his opponent will sit, forcing White to move before he gets the pawn.
Yes, this is all very simple and logical, but I would bet that only the best bughouse teams would play it correctly. Aside from the White player missing the combination altogether, I can think of three ways teams will misplay this position:
Oh, just one comment about the clock situation in this one, where one
player is ahead on the clock and his partner is behind on the clock:
in Bughouse Heaven, this will never happen. In Heaven, there
is no lag. With zero lag, if one player is x seconds ahead of his
diagonal opponent, then his partner will be x seconds ahead of his
diagonal opponent. (You math majors can have a little fun working out
a simple proof for this.) Unfortunately, playing bughouse on the
Internet means playing in an imperfect world, where clocks do not move
at the same pace. I don't have any advice on playing with lag, just
saying that it exists, it's unavoidable, and learn to live with it.
Back to questions
#8
Both of you have pretty hideous positions in this one, so don't burn out any brain cells trying to find a mate here. The two points in your favor in an otherwise hopeless situation are: (a) the Black opponent is badly behind on his clock, and (b) if the White player on your team gets a knight, he can check ad infinitum by 1. N@f6+ Kf8 2. Nxh7+ Ke8 3. Nf6+ Kf8 4. Nh7+ etc. Of course, in bughouse there is no such thing as a draw by three move repetition, and that's the key to this swindle.
Since White needs a knight, Black does his part in the winning plan by playing 1...Qd2+! 2. Nxd2 Nxd2, then heads to the refrigerator to get a beer. (Of course, he'll be mated in a few moves anyway.) White takes this knight, drops it on f6, and shuttles the knight between f6 and h7 until his opponent runs out of time. Since the Black opponent has substantially less than half the amount of time as the Black player on your team, his flag will drop first. The only times this plan won't work are when (1) the lag is particularly bad or when (2) the lag suddenly gets particlarly bad. By the way, if you lose for the second reason, it is highly probable the lag was deliberately induced by your opponent, which is blatant cheating. Stop playing this opponent, never play him again, and let your bughouse friends know what a slimeball he is.
Oh, one more thing: contrary to what some inexperienced players
think, there is nothing unethical about repeating a bughouse position
five or ten or fifty times. It's a perfectly valid way to save
time on the clock -- in the most common scenario, the player keeps the
checks going until his partner gets him mating material. So, if a player
beats you by repeating a position thirty times, then mates you, don't
broadcast an ugly message. You'll only be showing everyone your ignorance.
Well, one postscript - I am writing this about a year after this quiz was initially uploaded: Of all the positions that have appeared in my bughouse quizzes, this position has easily been the most controversial. Here are some of the arguments I have received to prove my solution will not necessarily work:
Yes, the FICS players are correct, and they should really tell the FICS admins to fix this bug. Seriously, I think three-fold repetitions have no place in bughouse, and I know most top players agree with me. Playing the clock is a valid strategy in bughouse. It makes sense to declare a three-fold repetition a draw in conventional chess, as there is nothing to move the game forward, but in bughouse the changing position on the other board, as well as the changing time situation (i.e. whether or not you are ahead or behind on the clock) keeps the game moving forward.
Well, sure, but I think we have to assume the playing field is reasonably level for all these puzzles. If one player can move 100 times faster than another, we don't have a level playing field.
Well, I have to admit, this is true. I can still vividly recall losing a game once where I had 15 seconds on my clock to my opponent's 4, moved as fast as I could, and still lost on time. My opponent was using LightningRulez for his graphical interface. Still, I will invoke the "level playing field" defense again, and say that graphical interfaces that allow premoves confer an unfair advantage.
#9
Here we have a situation that occurs a fair amount in bughouse: one board is bursting at the seams, loaded with pieces, while the other board looks like the audience at a Kurosawa film. Before we get to the solution, I have a few general comments about how to play when one board is bloated, the other empty, and my basic advice is: Don't think, just move. This advice is especially important for the player with all the pieces -- the temptation is to slow down, since it would seem that he has a far more complex position than his partner. In fact, the player with the wide open board has the more dangerous position, and the mate is much more likely to occur on his board. Mates can occur with stunning rapidity on wide open boards, and, when you are the one playing the open board, your best protection is to get ahead on the clock. (If you're not sure why, read item #3 in Top Ten Ways To Tell You Have a Bad Bughouse Partner.)
Now, getting to the solution: without bothering to tax his brain by analyzing his ultra-messy position too deeply, the White player notices he can force a rook exchange by playing 1. R@h8+ R@g8 2. Rxg8+ Kxg8. With a rook now in hand, Black drops it on the back rank to force his own rook exchange: 1...R@a1+ 2. R@g1 Rxg1+ 3. Kxg1. So, White gets his rook back, and he says, what the heck, force another rook exchange by 3. R@e8+ R@f8 4. Rxf8+ Kxf8, giving Black his rook back, to which Black repeats the back rank check: 3...R@a1+ 4. R@f1 Rxf1+ 5. Kxf1.
The winning plan should be pretty clear by now: White shuttles rook checks on e8 and h8 to send a succession of rooks to his partner. (Okay, to be more accurate, it's actually the same rook bouncing back and forth between Black and his diagonal opponent.) Black uses back rank checks to send the rook back, while simultaneously drawing the White king across the board. When the White king has been drawn to b1, the last R@a1+ is mate.
Of course, this last problem is included more for its "intrinsic
cuteness" than for any practical value. To pull off this coupe in a
real game, you and your partner would have to be substantially ahead
on the clocks, since both sides have to execute seven rook drops that
entail first having to wait for the rook to arrive from the other board.
I'm guessing a one minute lead on the clocks would be plenty of
time, but with only a thirty second lead you might not make it.
Back to questions
And that concludes installment #2 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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