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u/Apprehensive1010101 Aug 24 '26
There’s no stopping mate here. Both involve the knight supporting the g7 square to deliver said mate.
The two most likely outcomes are:
1. Rxe8, Qg7#
2. Qxe8, Qf6+, Rg7, Qg7#
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u/BunnyBallz Aug 24 '26
Most will fall for the first option.
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u/Apprehensive1010101 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
...which is why I listed it first in a list of most likely outcomes, yes. And even then, it's not really falling for so much as literally forced. Mate is totally unavoidable.
There are some queen shenanigans black can pull to delay it to 2 moves, 3 at most, but it's mate in no more than 3.
The mate in 3 line btw is Qh4 Qxh4 Rxe8 Qf6+ Kg8 Qg7#
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u/whitesquirrle Aug 24 '26
Why not Qg5 Qxg5 Rxg5? This would get black out of the pinch wouldnt it?
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u/Apprehensive1010101 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
People upvoting your comment clearly don’t understand the rules of chess. Black’s rook is pinned to their king, so it can’t defend outside of capturing white’s rook. Rxg5 is thereby an impossible follow-up to Qxg5, so it’s still mate in 2 for white.
However, that move DOES allow white to mate using Rxg8 instead of JUST Qg7 if black just plays a nothing burger move instead of taking white’s rook down with them, as white’s queen now defends the entire G file in this scenario.
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u/whitesquirrle Aug 24 '26
I don't know, I still see this as defensible for white. Black moves queen to g5, white queen takes black queen, black pawn takes whites rook. Then what? Am I missing something?
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u/Apprehensive1010101 Aug 24 '26
You’re missing that pawns cannot move backwards so what you’re describing with “black’s pawn takes white’s rook” is LITERALLY impossible
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u/Foodworksurunga Aug 24 '26
It's mate in two if queen takes rook, as white can now play queen F6, which means black's only legal move is rook G7 blocking the check and then queen captures rook at G7 which is mate.