Solution
The position as it is usually given today, with White to move and win, is shown in the diagram to the right. The solution is:
- 1. c7 Rd6+
- 2. Kb5 (2. Kc5? Rd1 and 3...Rc1! If 2. Kb7? Rd7 pins the pawn)
- 2...Rd5+
- 3. Kb4 Rd4+
- 4. Kb3 Rd3+
- 5. Kc2! Rd4!
- 6. c8R! (threatening 7.Ra8+; instead 6.c8Q? Rc4+! 7.Qxc4 is stalemate)
- 6...Ra4
- 7.Kb3
Black must either lose the rook (allowing White to easily checkmate) or be checkmated by 8. Rc1 (Emms 2008:10–11). This is one of the most famous examples of underpromotion in chess and a rare example of a player being famous for a single move (Sunnucks 1970).
Read more about this topic: Saavedra Position
Famous quotes containing the word solution:
“Let us begin to understand the argument.
There is a solution to everything: Science.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“Give a scientist a problem and he will probably provide a solution; historians and sociologists, by contrast, can offer only opinions. Ask a dozen chemists the composition of an organic compound such as methane, and within a short time all twelve will have come up with the same solution of CH4. Ask, however, a dozen economists or sociologists to provide policies to reduce unemployment or the level of crime and twelve widely differing opinions are likely to be offered.”
—Derek Gjertsen, British scientist, author. Science and Philosophy: Past and Present, ch. 3, Penguin (1989)
“Who shall forbid a wise skepticism, seeing that there is no practical question on which any thing more than an approximate solution can be had? Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get out, and such as are out wish to get in?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)