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May-07-09
 | | johnlspouge: Thursday (Medium):
A Yurgis vs Botvinnik, 1931 (34…?) Black to play and win.
Material: B+P for R. The White Kg1 is secured from checks, with 3 legal moves. Black has Pc2, ready to queen, Rd4 able to offer support with Rd4-d8. The Black Be7 requires activation. The move Be7-c5 activates Be7 with tempo by setting up a discovered attack. The Black Kg8 is secured from checks, with 3 legal moves. Candidates (34…): Bc5
Like <5hrsolver>, I inaccurately transposed 34…Bc5 and 35…Rc4, permitting a draw with the defense 34…Bc5 35.Rxc2 Rc4+ 36.Rcf2 |
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May-07-09
 | | karnak64: Wow. Never saw that coming. I was playing with ... Bc5 like many of the rest of you. |
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May-07-09
 | | benjinathan: That is pretty sweet.
I have noticed that I find puzzles hard where the first move is not a take. Does 35.Rc1 save the day? |
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May-07-09
 | | hedgeh0g: Surprisingly easy. |
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May-07-09
 | | beenthere240: 35, Rc1 Bc4, wins the exchange leaving black is a poor position. |
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May-07-09
 | | Roemer: What happens after 34. Rf2xf1 instead of Rcxf1 ? |
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| May-07-09 | | Manic: Ahh I see what I missed. 34...Bc5 35.Rxc2 and here I thought Rd2+ could be played, missing Rxc5 =/ |
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May-07-09
 | | awfulhangover: I became member of the 34.-Bc5 club too. |
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May-07-09
 | | patzer2: Just noticed <notyetagm> classified 34. Rc4! as a clearance tactic. He is of course correct regarding the first move. On the other hand, I classified it as a passed pawn tactic. Is one classification right or wrong? Not really! In sorting out combinations with multiple tactical themes, authors of combination books will usually use what they consider to be the main feature of the combination to make their classification. In this case, the combination involves the clearance, pin and passed pawn tactics. Which one should you use in a personal collection of tactics? In my opinion, it would be the tactic you personally find most appealing or the one that will best help you remember or master the combination. For me the passed pawn theme is the most surprising and difficult feature of the combination. So that's where I'll keep it. However, if classifying it as a clearance or pinning combination helps you to remember and apply the tactic better, then that's perfectly fine. By the way, <notyetagm> has advanced at least four rating classes (E to A as I recall) since starting his study of tactical themes. P.S.: Redo of my first post:
For today's Thursday puzzle solution, Black's clearance (sham) sacrifice 34...Rc4! sets up the pin 35...Bc5 for the triumphant march of the b-pawn. |
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May-07-09
| | benjinathan: <For today's Thursday puzzle solution, Black's clearance (sham) sacrifice 34...Rc4! sets up the pin 35...Bc5 for the triumphant march of the b-pawn.> OK now I am confused. Does it work only if white takes? Or does Rc1 save the day for white-black can't play Bc5 because white wins the rook for free? I must be missing something>? |
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May-07-09
| | patzer2: <benjinathan> After 34...Rc4! 35. Rc1, 35... Bc5! still wins. If now 36. bxc4?, 36...b3! (diagram below)
click for larger viewgets Black's double passed pawn stream roller going. |
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May-07-09
 | | playground player: At my level of play I don't often get to see moves like 34...Rc4, let alone do them. But here it doesn't even rate an exclamation point. |
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May-07-09
| | benjinathan: <patzer2> Thanks! That just shows how much I missed the idea the first time-I didn't see it on the second go around even after I was aware of it. |
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May-07-09
 | | kevin86: Very similar to a game yesterday;the winner gives up a rook to gain connectors. As almost everyone knows:two connected passed pawns on the sixth or beyond can beat a rook if the kings are absent. My move was 34... c5-a little out of order :( |
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May-07-09
 | | Fusilli: <benjinathan> <OK now I am confused. Does it work only if white takes? Or does Rc1 save the day for white-black can't play Bc5 because white wins the rook for free? I must be missing something?>
If 35. Rc1 Bc5 36.bxc4 b3, followed by Bxf2 and b2 winning. Of course if 36.R1xc2 black simply plays Rxc2 (the other rook is pinned). <kevin86> <My move was 34...Bc5-a little out of order :(> Yeah, but it's not the same thing in a different order. 34...Bc5 doesn't work. See <Manic>'s post below. I also thought it was 34...Bc5 followed by 35.Kg2 Rc4, but again, see Manic's post. |
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May-07-09
 | | YouRang: I saw the idea of 34...Rc4! almost immediately. Not due to any brilliance, but rather a lacking of anything else to look at. What else does black have going except for promotion tactics, and how else to save Pc2 and enable Pb4 except to sac a rook give us deep connected passers? Anyway, once we see 34...Rc4 35.bxc4, we must figure out how to force promotion. 35...b3 doesn't work because white will happily sac the rook back (a "sac-back"?) for both pawns: 36.Rxc2 bxc2 37.Rc1 & Rxc2 winning. However, 35....Bc5! pins and wins a rook, leaving white with one rook to stop the two advanced passers -- and it's not up to the task. Good puzzle. :-) |
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| May-07-09 | | JG27Pyth: Rc4 was one of the first moves I examined... but I rejected it because I calculated the continuation incorrectly :( I believe Rc1 is correct... and leads to a difficult RvR ending -- can anyone improve this (no software was consulted): 34...Rc4
35. Rc1 Bc5
36. Kg2 Bxf2
37. Kxf2 Rc3
And Black has a significant advantage. |
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May-07-09
| | YouRang: Ah, I see I overlooked white's defense of 35.Rc1, which is clearly the best they have. Now, 35...Bc5 36.Kg2 Bxf2 37.Kxf2 38.Rc3 leaves black a bit better, but the outcome is rather muddy -- at least for the purpose of being a puzzle. My shallow analysis makes me think think that black can end up with an outside passer, which may be winning. |
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| May-07-09 | | TheChessGuy: I'm not counting this one. Saw the game in OMGP II. |
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| May-07-09 | | JG27Pyth: @ You Rang
That's the same line I looked at -- I think Black is playing for the win, but it sure looks like there's game left to me. |
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May-07-09
| | YouRang: <JG27Pyth> <34...Rc4 35. Rc1 Bc5 36. Kg2 Bxf2 37. Kxf2 Rc3 And Black has a significant advantage.>
Yes, the more I look at that position, the more satisfied I am that black is winning. The black king can roam the board and zugzwang white to death. The white king could move over to support Rxc2, but by that time the white king is centralized and the rook exchange will favor black. |
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May-07-09
| | penguin496: Is 34...Bc5 also winning? |
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| May-07-09 | | doubledrooks: This is a beautiful combination! I loved it.
After wondering what in the world the first move could be, I finally found 34...Rc4!. I did see the game continuation up to the end (37...b3), but I missed a few variations along the way. Would I have seen this combination over the board? Hmm... |
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May-07-09
| | ajk68: I think the answer is that after
35. Rc2 Bc5 36. Kg2 Bxf2 37. Kxf2 Rc3
there is
38...Rxb3 39. Rxc2 40. Ra3
And black will have connected passers. |
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May-07-09
| | ajk68: My previous analysis is incomplete.
White can give check and capture the a-pawn.
This makes things complicated. |
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sac: 27...Rc3