Originally posted by Mad Rook Okay, if Reuben Fine could go down the silly psychology path, then I guess I'm also entitled.
[fen]8/k1K5/8/8/8/8/8/7Q w - - 0 1[/fen]
White to play. Does White deliver mate with Qa1 or Qb7, and why? (Okay, there may not really be a reason, but we're having fun, right?)
P.S. Keep the responses clean... Uh, well, at least clean enough that nobody gets into trouble. 🙂
I'd go for 1. Qb7#. I'm afraid I can't give a definite reason but I think it feels more final to me. Perhaps the black's king has "less" spaces it can flee to. Either that, or it's because a rook could mate 1. Ra1# in that situation and I'm not about to belittle my piece (Curse you Freud!).
Incidentally, Fritz goes for 1. Qb7# and so does Chessmaster. I guess that's a 100% match up for me! 😲
Qa1# is the better win. If black were to continue he would move to a square and be captured and white wins with king and queen left.
Also you're delivering the rook style checkmate which spits in your opponents face letting him know you didn't need a queen, a rook would have sufficed.
checkmating on b7 isn't as good. You had to do the queen only checkmate. Also if black were to continue he would take your queen and you would take his king. Thus you're only left with a king.
Originally posted by Mad Rook Okay, if Reuben Fine could go down the silly psychology path, then I guess I'm also entitled.
[fen]8/k1K5/8/8/8/8/8/7Q w - - 0 1[/fen]
White to play. Does White deliver mate with Qa1 or Qb7, and why? (Okay, there may not really be a reason, but we're having fun, right?)
P.S. Keep the responses clean... Uh, well, at least clean enough that nobody gets into trouble. 🙂
I'd play Qa8# for the simple reason that it ever so subtlely demonstrates slightly more understanding of the game than Qb2#. Every kid that knows how to move the pieces is familiar with the smothering the king with a protected queen mate. The mate of a rook/queen on the back rank mating the enemy because your King cut off the second rank is a slightly more sophisticated and subtle mate.
Originally posted by sh76 I'd play Qa8# for the simple reason that it ever so subtlely demonstrates slightly more understanding of the game than Qb2#. Every kid that knows how to move the pieces is familiar with the smothering the king with a protected queen mate. The mate of a rook/queen on the back rank mating the enemy because your King cut off the second rank is a slightly more sophisticated and subtle mate.
Freudian Finish?
12 Feb '09 14:321 edit
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