The Checker Maven

You'll Get A Kick Out Of This

Today we are pleased to present another crowd-pleasing Tommie Wiswell composition. In Mr. Wiswell's own words, "You'll get a real 'kick' out of this one. The solution is short and snappy and the 'key' move is quite a shock --- to Black."

Here's the position, and we don't claim that it's an easy one.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W14,17,22,23,28,31,32:B5,6,K8,13,20,K26.

White is a man up, but Black has two kings and threatens to even the material count. Can you find White's win, or will this problem kick your posterior? Give it a try but don't kick the bucket; instead, click on Read More to see the solution.



Solution

32-27 26-19 27-24 20-27 31-15 6-9---1 14-10 9-14 15-11!---2 8-6---3 17-1 White Wins---4.

1---Black, being still a man down, has nothing better. For instance if 8-12 then 14-10 and White continues with a straightforward man-up win.

2---Did you see this brilliant move?

3---Obviously after 14-21 11-4 White wins easily.

4---A wonderful composition from one of the finest problemists in the history of our game, and we hope you got a "kick" out of it too.

07/26/08 - Category: Problems
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