White mates in 5
To see the solution, highlight the text below.
" Solution :
The material balance is clearly in favor of Black. However Black pieces are totally inactive. The rook and queen are stuck on the last column. The spy is prisoner on the a9 square.
Some tempting moves here :
1. Rxb9 : this is not real threat for black. Black releases immediately the pressure with ...Rj1. White's b8 pawn is not a real threat because the spy on a9 will immediately block the b10 square. And then only White's king can succeed in getting the pawn to queen but in the mean time Black's army would be unleashed and White will lose the game.
2. Nxi6 : this looks like a winning move at first sight. White gets Black's queen. But the truth is that it leads to most likely draw. Black's reply is simple ...Rj5 and after Nxj8 Rxi5+ Ke6 ixj8 Rxb9+ Ki10 Kd7 the position is very drawish because white king will succeed to chase away the spy on a9 but Black can simply exchange his rook against the b-pawn. And with a spy and three pawns against rook and spy, Black has a draw at least especially given the distant position where White's king will end up. May be Black is even winning.
So instead of these attacking moves, the very simple and passive looking Spy move is winning on the spot :
Sj5
After this move, Black is totally paralyzed because only black's king or queen can attack the spy. There is nothing Black can do apart from moving the rook and the queen in the j6-j7-j8 squares and waiting for the hammer to fall on its head. White win becomes very easy :
Rj6 Ng6 (and certainly not pawn takes rook!) Qj7 Nf8 Qj8 Nh9 Rj7 Rj10# "
And here is the animated GIF, that starts after the spy has moved to j5 to block black's army from moving :
PS. About the title of the post, it's just that my doctor is telling me to drop eating chocolate to improve my metabolism. So does White in this puzzle, the theme is don't eat any of Black chocolate pieces !
