Selfmates with active white king 9


There is one special device using the active play of white king... a position looks more or less innocently, even before the last move... that is made by white king, quiet one, setting Black into unexpected zugzwang. It is not so unusual as is shown in the following selection.
Hermann Stapff
2nd Prize Magyar Sakkvilág 1929

1.Bb8! th. 2.Ra4+ bxa4#, 1...Rg5, Rf5, Re5 2.Ba7! th. 3.Ra4+ bxa4#, 2...Bf5 3.Kxb5!! Bf~#

White forces creation of Black battery and after final move of wK it turns out Black has no alternative to firing the battery.









s#3 (12+13)

Jan Rusek
3rd HM Parallele 50 1949

1.Rh5! zz
1...Bb8 2.Rh4+ Bf4 3.Qb4+ Sd4+ 4.Kd1 e2#
1...Bxb6 2.Ra4+ Bd4 3.Qh4+ Sf4+ 4.Kf1 e2#

Two variations are very symmetrical, they lead to echo of model mate. The final moves unblock pawn that in turn gives mates.









s#4 (8+4)

Camillo Gamnitzer
1st HM Schweizerische Schachzeitung 1991-92

1.Rd2! zz
1...B~ 2.Qa3+ Kb5 3.Ra2 ~ 4.Qc5+ bxc5#
1...Ba6! 2.Qc2+ Kb5 3.Bd3 cxd3 4.Kxd3 Kc5#

Quite sophisticated example of the final king move. After random move of bB White forces selfmate with one free black move inserted. However Black has original defence against this secondary threat. Then White forces creation of Black royal battery that must be fired after quiet move of wK. Note much better construction and degree of sophistication compared to the first problem of this file. More than 60 years later it is quite expectable...









s#4 (9+7)

Camillo Gamnitzer
dedicated to Jürgen Bischoff
1st Prize Schach Report 1994

Some tries:

1.d6? th. 2.Bd5! ~ 3.Qg2 ~ 4.Qf2+ gxf2#, 1...Rc3/Rb3!

1.f5!? th. 2.fxg6 ~ 3. Qf5 ~ 4.Qf2+ gxf2#
1...Bb4? 2. fxg6 Bd6 3. Qxg3+! Bxg3#
1...Ra4? 2. fxg6 Rxd4 3. Qf5 Rf4 4. Bxd2+ Bxd2#
1...Rc3! 2. fxg6 Rxc7 3. Qf5 Rf7!

Thematic try: 1.Rf1? th. 2.Bxd2+ Bxd2#), 1...Rc3!

1.Rg1! th. 2. Bh1! ~ 3.Qg2 ~ 4.Qf2+ gxf2#, 1...Ra4! (2.Bh1? Rxd4 3.Qg2 Rxf4!) 2.Rf1! th. 3.Bxd2+ Bxd2#, 2...Rb4! (3.~? Rb1!!) 3.Rf3+! Ke4 4. Kxd2!! zz R~#

I remember the competition (some Slovak solving championships) where this problem was set for solving... it was extremely difficult, as there were many possible ways to threat selfmate and to try... and the right one is the most surprising: move of Rh1 to f1 with a stop at g1, Bg2 move to corner (I was able to find that), but then there is a surprising finale (not so much for us after seeing previous problems in this file, but surely for solver) with creation of black direct battery and zugzwang forcing the battery opening (I failed to find that despite having written complete first two moves of the solution - it means I was unable to solve s#2...).









s#4 (14+9)

Friedrich Fricke
feenschach 1976

1.Kg2! e3 2.Rf1 exf2 3.Ba6 bxa6 4.Qc6+ Bb7 5.Kh1 Bxc6#

Here the wK makes the first and the last move. Besides that White sacrifices 2 pieces (Q, B) and exchanges places of wK and wR. Quite simple though.









s#5 (9+4)

Eugeniusz Iwanow
2nd Comm Umenie 64 1997

1.Re4+! Kf3 2.Qb3+ Re3 3.Qd1+ Re2 4.Qf1+ Rf2 5.Kh1 Rxf1#

A final manoeuvre is similar to that of s#7 by Michael Schwalbach, but it is used only once and the whole is quite short and brutal.









s#5 (5+2)

Comments to Juraj Lörinc.
Back to main page of Chess Composition Microweb.