| Jan-06-10 | | wordfunph: 
click for larger view30.Nxc6 was so daring, 30.Nxd3 would have been ok for white.. |
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Mar-19-15
 | | offramp: I wonder if Black had seen his response to 30.Nxc6 in advance? |
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| Mar-19-15 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: Material is dead even, but stuff is hanging all over the place. If Nxe7 weren't check, the plan ... Rxa1/Rxc1+ would win a piece straightforwardly. OK, let's check what White can do with the extra tempo. 30 ... Rxa1
31 Nxe7+ Kf8
32 Bf1 Rxc1
White now has no way to save both queen and knight. So Black winds up with rook and two knights for queen and pawn (the pawn assumes a desperado Nxg6+), and he's on the attack. That looks advantageous. Alternatives in Move 32 such as Qa4 wind up similarly. |
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Mar-19-15
 | | al wazir: The first few moves are easy to find, but I didn't see 35...Nf3 or 36...Bc4. I like 35...Rc2. If 36. Qxc2, then 36...Ne1+. 36...f4 in the game line looks pretty strong too. |
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| Mar-19-15 | | dfcx: Black's queen and rook are both under attack, he can't save both. On the other hand white's rook and knight are hanging. This is easy. 30...Rxa1 31. Nxe7+ Kf8 32. Bf1 Rxc1 33. Qa4 Kxe7 
click for larger view |
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Mar-19-15
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: I have always loved passive sacrifices of the Queen--you attack my most powerful piece? Go ahead, I do not care!--but this is especially lovely as it allows the capture with check. |
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| Mar-19-15 | | gofer: I am wondering whether the queen sacrifice works... <30 ... Rxa1>
<31 Nxe7+ Kf8>
White has no checks and must give up not only the rook, but also Nc1 and Ne7 for the queen at which point Bf1 is pinned. The white queen cannot attack long the c file either! 32 ... Nxg6+
33 hxg6 ...
This doesn't change anything as white still doesn't
have a check available!
<32 Bf1 Rxc1>
33 Qe2/Qd2 Nfd5 and the queen gets trapped on the second rank! <33 Qa4 f4!>
Black goes for the throat!
click for larger viewAt this point, I think its all over, white has no "good" checks and black threatens f3 and Bh3 both threatening mate, but more importantly dooming Bf1 as it has absolutely no escape! So black has won (or is about to win) R+B+2N for its queen a fair exchange in anyone's book! Only one question remains in my mind...
Is <33 ... f4> sound?, best? or just rubbish! ~~~
What does <Herr Fritz> say about <33 ... f4>? |
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| Mar-19-15 | | morfishine: Its all about material:
I had <30...Rxa1> followed by 31.Nxe7+ <31...Kf8> the point; White's Knight
is attacked and the Queen is threatened. Black comes out ahead in
material after 32.Nxg6+ hxg6 33.Qd2 Rxc1+ 34.Bf1 Ne5
click for larger viewBlack has either 34...Ne5 or 34...Bc4; Both appear equally strong ***** |
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| Mar-19-15 | | Once: <gofer> After 33. Qa4, my older version of Fritz says that 33...f4 is okay. He prefers 33...Kxe7 and 33...Bc4, evaluating both at -4.58 (they seem to transpose). 33...f4 is his third or fourth choice with an eval of around -2.8. |
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| Mar-19-15 | | diagonalley: hmmm... interesting position... black has threats to parry, but fortunately can take advantage of white's back rank situation... as other posters have pointed out, 30....RxR leads to a significant material advantage. nice puzzle |
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| Mar-19-15 | | agb2002: The material is identical.
White threatens 31.Nxe7+, 31.Rxa8+, 31.Nxd3, etc.
The first idea that comes to mind is 30... Rxa1 31.Nxe7+ Kf8 (else 32.Qc3+ and 33.Qxa1, winning) A) 32.Qd2 Rxc1+ 33.Bf1 Kxe7 and Black has a rook and two knights and will eventually win the b-pawn and the game. B) 32.Qe2 Rxc1+ 33.Bf1 f4 with the threat 34... Bh3 looks winning. For example, 34.h4 Bh3 35.Nd5 Rxf1+ 36.Kh2 Rxf2+, etc. C) 32.Bf1 Rxc1
C.1) 33.Qe2 transposes to B.
C.2) 33.Qd2 transposes to A.
C.3) 33.Qa4 Kxe7 34.Qa8 Nd8 with the same conclusion as A. D) 32.Nxg6+ hxg6 doesn't seem to change much in White's favor. |
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| Mar-19-15 | | CHESSTTCAMPS: In this middle-game position, material is even, but black controls the dynamics of the position given the passive Bg2 and Nc1. White threatens both black major pieces and it is fairly obvious which one black must save. 30... Rxa1! gives up the queen with check, but black's control of the first rank in this situation is worth more than Boardwalk in Monopoly. In any case, 30... bxc6?? 31.Rxa8+ would be silly. 31.Nxe7+ Kf8 and now (1) White has no satisfactory way to protect the queen from Rxc1+ (2) Both of white's knights are goners. White's must save the queen to avoid being down 2 minor pieces. A) 32.Bf1 (the best chance for an active queen) Rxc1 33.Qa4 f4! (key point - black can play for mate) 34.Nxg6+ hg 35.Qa8+ Kg7 36.Kg2 (otherwise 36...Bh3) f3+ 37.Kg1 Bh3 finishes. B) 32.Nxf5 gxf5! (Rxc1+ 33.Qxc1 Nxc1 34.Ne4 allows white some counter-play for the piece) 33.Bf1 Rxc1 34.Qa4 f4! 35.h3 Bxh3 winning Bf1 with big material advantage and the white king still in a vice. C) 32.Qd2|e2 Rxc1+ 33.Bf1 f4! once more looks like the finishing shot. Time for review.... |
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| Mar-19-15 | | hcgflynn: i'm not an opening expert, but i really dont like 11. rb1. after 11. - nc5! black is in control, and with each move creates small positional threats until 21. - nd5. which is mindblowing in its self. no fireworks there, but clearly these moves decide the fate of the game. |
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| Mar-19-15 | | Mating Net: Very nice play by Black..the Queen falls WITH check and the back rank situation does not lead to an immediate mate. Kudos to him for calculating that it's a winning continuation. |
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Mar-19-15
 | | Penguincw: When I looked at the position, I saw black had 2 major pieces hanging, both of which will be captured with check. If I had to give a guess to the answer to the puzzle, it would be 30...Rxa1 31.Nxe7+ Kf8. |
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| Mar-19-15 | | whiteshark: Thursday, and I'm only just getting warmed up... |
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Mar-19-15
 | | PawnSac: < wordfunph:
30.Nxd3 would have been ok for white..>
30. Nxd3 exd3 31. Qxd3 Qxb4 32. Nb3 Rxa1+ 33. Nxa1 Qe1+ 34. Qf1 Qxf1+ 35. Kxf1 and black has easily simplified to a won ending. |
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| Mar-19-15 | | Castleinthesky: An easy Thursday puzzle, black clearly gains material through the exchange, with a winning advantage. |
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| Mar-19-15 | | Castleinthesky: According to the CG bio-Steger is still living (105 years old)! |
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| Mar-19-15 | | patzer2: Not too difficult for a Thursday puzzle. Showed the position to my six-year-old grandson, and in less than a minute he found 30...Rxa1! 31.Nxe7+ Kf8! Of course at that age Queen protection isn't one of his highest priorities. White's biggest problem in this game IMO was too many passive opening moves. For example instead of the non-developing 11. Rb1?! White can improve with 11. e4  (Fritz 14) or 11. b3 (Stockfish 5). Also, instead of 12. Nd2?! I prefer 12. Bg5 = or the computer suggestion 12. Ng5 =. The decisive error appears to be 26. Na2?, which Black could have immediately punished with 26... Bxa1! 27. Rxa1 Rxd1+ 28. Rxd1 Nxc5! 29. Qxc5 Qxc5 30. bxc5 Rxa5 31. Nb4 Rb5  (-4.20 @ 20 depth, Fritz 14). Instead of 26. Na2?, White can maximize his survival chances with 26. Qa4! when Black maintains an edge after 26...Qc7! 27. Rxd8+ Nxd8! 28. Nb3 Qb8! 29. Na5 b5 30. cxb6 Qxb6 31. Nxe4 fxe4 32. Bxg7 Kxg7 33. Nxc6 Nxc6 34. Bxe4 Bf5 35. Bxc6 Rf8 36. Qa1+ Rf6 37. Rc1 Nxb4 38. Bg2 g5  . |
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| Mar-19-15 | | kevin86: Black's position is so powerful that he can give up the queen WITH CHECK! |
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Mar-19-15
| | offramp: ¬¬¬
<wordfunph: 30.Nxc6 was so daring, 30.Nxd3 would have been ok for white..><awnSac: < wordfunph:
30.Nxd3 would have been ok for white..>
30. Nxd3 exd3 31. Qxd3 Qxb4 32. Nb3 Rxa1+ 33. Nxa1 Qe1+ 34. Qf1 Qxf1+ 35. Kxf1 and black has easily simplified to a won ending.> LOL! Pwned!! |
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| Mar-19-15 | | Once: The interesting thing about this position is that white can capture the black queen, but the only way to do this is by committing his paratrooper knight too deeply into the black position. This is how the world looks after 31...Kf8, The knight doesn't have a safe retreat square. He can't rely on the queen's protection of c8 after Rxc1. 
click for larger viewIn other words, his mission to assassinate the black queen was a suicide mission. Black gains two minor pieces plus a rook for his queen - a more than adequate transaction. In the meantime, black can happily chomp through material without getting any of his pieces into trouble. The Ra1 goes first, to be followed by the Nc1. The biggest issue is the weakness of the white position, especially the number of light square holes and the weak back rank. Black's advantage of R+N+N for Q would be decisive enough, but add in the structural weaknesses and White's is more or less busted. |
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| Mar-19-15 | | bunbun: so true <An Englishman>! |
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| Mar-19-15 | | Strelets: A positional queen sacrifice that ties White down so completely that the queen can be lost with check. Black could've just picked off the pawn on b4 and pushed his own b-pawn in the final position but Steger realized that he had no counterplay to speak of and resigned. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 30...Rxa1