I’ll give it a shot.
1. … Ng4 2. Nxg6 Kf2 3. Nf4 Kg1 And the threat is Nf2#. Since the black king can be on g1 or h1 and the white knight is the only white piece that can move, the white knight can’t defend the f2 square. For example, 4. Nd3 Kh1 and the knight has to move allowing Nf2#.
Nice! This was a beautiful zugzwang maneuver. It pays to look for these type of mates. I missed a two knight mate once because there were so few pieces on the board. I missed my chance for that game to be cited in all endgame books! 😐
I thought Ng4 might not be right because I had trouble reconciling
the following line: 1..Ng4 2. Nd5 Kf2 3. Nc3 Kg1 4. Ne4 but then
I saw 4…Kh1 which finishes the question so Loomis’s descriptive statements seem to capture the essence of all the critical variations.
It turns out that since the white king can’t move that we are just trying to win tempi on the knight. I read somewhere that knight endings are a lot like pawn endings. I concur since knight movements have to be calculated precisely. Moving to the wrong square makes it hard to retrace steps or take an alternative route. With other pieces, it’s easier to get back on the right track.
I’ll give it a shot.
1. … Ng4 2. Nxg6 Kf2 3. Nf4 Kg1 And the threat is Nf2#. Since the black king can be on g1 or h1 and the white knight is the only white piece that can move, the white knight can’t defend the f2 square. For example, 4. Nd3 Kh1 and the knight has to move allowing Nf2#.
Nice! This was a beautiful zugzwang maneuver. It pays to look for these type of mates. I missed a two knight mate once because there were so few pieces on the board. I missed my chance for that game to be cited in all endgame books! 😐
https://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/?p=27
Incidentally, Anand pulled off an interesting stalemating trick yesterday that is a famous problem. It pays to know endings!
Hi Loomis and Daaim,
I thought Ng4 might not be right because I had trouble reconciling
the following line: 1..Ng4 2. Nd5 Kf2 3. Nc3 Kg1 4. Ne4 but then
I saw 4…Kh1 which finishes the question so Loomis’s descriptive statements seem to capture the essence of all the critical variations.
Peace.
It turns out that since the white king can’t move that we are just trying to win tempi on the knight. I read somewhere that knight endings are a lot like pawn endings. I concur since knight movements have to be calculated precisely. Moving to the wrong square makes it hard to retrace steps or take an alternative route. With other pieces, it’s easier to get back on the right track.
Nice ending!