Problem 33878

[dlester]

I am probably missing something obvious, but I just don't get this problem.  Why is it better to trade off your rook for a bishop before taking the queen with your pawn?  It does decrease king safety a bit, but is that really worth giving up a rook?  Is the bishop pair considered that powerful in this kind of position?

I just don't get it.  Can someone brighter than me (which, according to the stats is about half of the people here) explain?

[tama]

Umm..... lol if you take the queen right away you loss a full rook for nothing, mite as well trade it for a bishop!

[richard]

dlester: As tama points out your rook is going to go anyway. The two choices are actually almost identical as taking the pawn first still loses the rook but gets the other bishop:
1. gxf7+ Kxh7
2. Qe4+ Kh6
3. Rh1 Kg5
4. Rxh3

The new generator would have rejected this problem due to the best and second best moves being too close together. Previously I'd demanded a big gap between best and second best , but when I started allowing alternative winning lines [as was done here with gxf7+] this check was no longer made. The new generator re-introduced the gap requirement and I'm going to start a verification run of the entire problem set in the next few days with the new generator.

Regards,
Richard.