[Event "Chess Artistry Adventure"] [White "Rusz,Arpad"] [Black ""] [Site ""] [Round ""] [Annotator "Rusz"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "2023.??.??"] [PlyCount "67"] [Setup "1"] [FEN "K7/P6k/8/8/1q6/8/4Q3/8 w - - 0 1"] 1. Qh5+ $1 {The black king cannot be let to move to the 6th rank.} ({Thematic try:} 1. Qe6 $2 Qf8+ 2. Kb7 Qg7+ 3. Kb8 Qg3+ 4. Kc8 Qc3+ 5. Kb7 Qg7+ { perpetual check} )Kg7 2. Qg5+ Kf7 (2... Kh7 3. Qf6 $18 )3. Qf5+ (3. Qd8 $2 Kg6 $1 4. Qb8 Qe4+ $11 )Kg7 (3... Ke7 4. Qc8 Kf6 5. Qb7 Qf8+ 6. Qb8 $18 { because there is no Qf3+} )4. Qe6 $1 {Back to the main plan. The threat is Qc6 followed by Qb7+.} Qb5 (4... Qf8+ 5. Kb7 $18 {Unlike in the thematic try, now there is no Qg7+.} )5. Qd6 Kf7 (5... Kh7 6. Qf6 $1 {zugzwang} (6. Qb8 $2 Qc5 $1 7. Qb1+ Kh6 8. Kb7 Qe7+ 9. Ka6 Qa3+ {perpetual check} )Qb4 7. Qc6 $18 )6. Qb8 Qc4 $1 7. Qb7+ Kg8 $1 {(Position A) This is the ideal position for the black pieces. This position was reached (with reversed colours) by Averbach in the analysis of the game Schlechter - Pillsbury (Vienna, 1898). He couldn't prove the win, but later a winning method was discovered by Stalyoraitis (1980) . I could prove that the method is unique in the sense that reaching Position B is essential to win.* The game Veselovsky - Bebchuk (USSR, 1977) also could have been decided by this, but it has ended in a draw. A flawed analysis of that game appeared in Benko's Laboratory (Chess Life, April, 1982). being my starting point to create this study.} 8. Qd7 $1 {The shortest way to win. The other moves are time-waisting duals which all lead to the same key position.} Qe4+ $1 9. Kb8 $1 Qf4+ 10. Kc8 Qc4+ 11. Kd8 Qh4+ 12. Qe7 Qd4+ 13. Kc8 Qc4+ 14. Kb8 Qb5+ {The black queen cannot stay any longer on the 4th rank.} 15. Qb7 Qe5+ 16. Ka8 $1 Qc5 {(Position B) Unfortunately for black, the ideal position of its pieces couldn't be reached anymore. The black queen is on c5 instead of c4, and that allows the following check:} 17. Qb3+ $1 (17. Qd7 $6 Qf8+ {The position is still a win but white has to work hard to reach again the key position (B). A similar check will not be available at the end of the main line because the black king will be on f8.} )Kf8 {The best chance is to stay on the 8th rank because there is no time to run with the king to the lower half of the board.} (17... Kh8 18. Qh3+ (18. Qb7 $2 Qc3 $1 $11 {mutual zugzwang} )Kg8 19. Qe6+ Kh8 20. Qe8+ Kg7 21. Qd7+ Kh8 22. Qd8+ Kh7 23. Kb7 $18 )18. Kb7 Qe7+ 19. Ka6 Qd6+ 20. Qb6 Qd3+ 21. Kb7 Qd7+ 22. Ka8 $1 Qd5+ 23. Kb8 Qe5+ 24. Kb7 Qe4+ 25. Qc6 Qe7+ 26. Kb8 (26. Ka8 $6 Qd8+ )Qb4+ 27. Ka8 $1 {and black quickly loses because there is no check on the 8th rank. For example:} Qf4 (27... Qb3 28. Qc8+ Kf7 29. Qb7+ $18 )28. Qc8+ Kg7 29. Qb7+ Kh6 30. Qc6+ Kh5 {With the black king on the 4th rank, the position would be draw.} 31. Kb7 Qb4+ 32. Ka6 Qa3+ 33. Kb6 Qb3+ (33... Qe3+ 34. Qc5+ $18 )34. Qb5+ {and wins. *Proving that Position B is essential for the winning process was done using the Haworth Method. In the normal QP v Q tablebase both positions are wins. By regenerating the tablebase from scratch with a 'seed' (Position B set a priori to DRAW), one can see if that causes a change of the evaluation for Position A as well (to DRAW) proving that the two positions depend on each other.} 1-0