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Sep-01-07
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| Marmot PFL: I thought the same at first, (lasker-bauer), but wasn't that a 2 bishop sacrifice, and here the second bishop never gets sacrificed. While the idea here was not so hard the calculations were not easy, at least for 7:30 AM. I saw the position up through 17.Ne4 dxe5 18.Nf6+ without realising it was winning because it didn't occur to me that black couldn't defend g7 after the knight was taken, except by losing the queen. By playing Ng6 instead he avoids this but runs into a nice mate on the h file. Paul Keres would be proud of this game as this g4-g5 attack is named for him. |
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Sep-01-07
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| willyfly: Material is dead even. White's pieces are enjoying much greater mobility with only one piece (h1 ) on it's home square while Black has  , and  on their home squares and consequently a more cramped position.I am seeing
14 e5 threatens xh7#
14...g6 15 xg6
if 15...fxg6 16 h6 dxe5 17 xe5 (the  is pinned) f6 18 gxf6 if 15...hxg6 16 h6 dxe5 17 xe5 f6 18 xf6
That's all I have time for. Now to check and see how I did. -----
14 xg7 was actually my first consideration, but I didn't explore it because Black is not obligated to take the . Therefore I was wrong. |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| znprdx: This is an excellent training position. First there is no other key move than 14.Bxg7. From here all the principles of how to convert full and effective development against a vulnerable kingside come into play. The geometric paradigm is crystal clear from the outset: the d3B and the h5Q striking h7 for the mate threat. The clearance for the f3N to control f6 and hence h7 despite the defending Nf8 (which I thought was forced immediately) But the crowning themes are the file openers: the potential ‘d ‘on an exposed queen in some lines but of course the critical ‘g’ file. I didn’t ‘see’ the Ng6 defense. What is so instructive here is that in this type of almost ideal position almost everything works and one just has to adapt ‘in situ’. I imagine the computers must have blown a fuse on this one - trying ...14 Nc5 which certainly looks like the only possible defense – sort of the spoiler but I presume it can be handled by the retreat 15.Bf6 Nxd3[B]+ 16. Rxd3[N] and after f4 White starts up the steamroller. I think this was the easiest problem of the week in the sense there are no resources nor room for move order error etc. just the direct application of clear principles – no risk of flights of fancy nor wild imaginings – I should get my 8 hours of sleep more often :) |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| znprdx: <MostlyAverageJoe: 14. Bxg7 Ne5 15. Bxe5 dxe5 Now, there is a really cool move for white to make> If I may quote myself here is the hint: <the crowning themes are the file openers: the potential ‘d ‘on an exposed queen> |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| wolfmaster: 20.? is a Monday puzzle. |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| ztnepres: i didnt think this was hard at all. saw it immediately |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| xKinGKooLx: O_o Wow, chessgames.com certainly made us work hard today! I am really pleased with myself, since I got this puzzle all the way to 21. Qxh7+. After finding the initial move, and the Ne4 to f6 monoeuvre of the knight, the rest was pretty simple. It took me about 20 minutes to find everything though, since there were a LOT of lines to calculate. A very good puzzle indeed. Bring on Sunday! |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| Iamsuperman: Hello everyone, one of my first posts ;P
On MAJ's puzzle I would've gone with 16.Bxd5
Am I correct in saying that 16.Ne5 is worse?
The line 16.Ne5 exe5 17.exe5 Kf8 18.Qxh7 Bf 19.gxf6 Qxf6, materials even and white doesn't have any more forcing moves, however it does have lots of attacking potential. |
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Sep-01-07
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| whiteshark: <wolfmaster: 20.? is a Monday puzzle.> LOL, I've seen it to 21. Qxh7+, now feeling better, ready for a Tuesday puzzle ... :D |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| Rubenus: <ztnepres> Really? Are you Bobby Fischer? |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| tdubb43: It would make a great Monday or Tuesday puzzle to use this game at 21 white to play. |
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Sep-01-07
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| patzer2: The demolition of pawn structure combination with 14. Bxg7!! is the solution to today's puzzle. The followup moves integrate the clearance (16. e5!), obstruction (17. Ne4! & 18. Nf6) and discovered check (20. h5! & 21. Qxh7+!) tactics. |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| znprdx: <MostlyAverageJoe:> Your variation 16.Bxb5 proves my point about <one just has to adapt ‘in situ’> but Nd5 as stated by <mig55:> (and as I hinted), is so much prettier and more consistent with the main themes involving h7. One should play directly for mate and only settle for material gain if there is nothing else. |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| pandi: What a nice combination! |
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Sep-01-07
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| fm avari viraf: "Old wine in a new bottle" as the theme of sacrificing the two Bishops on g7 & h7 is very old. Of course, here, the Bishop sac on g7 is quite obvious & the clearance for the second Bishop is in conjunction with the mating plan. Again, in the end, a cute little combination of Queen sac that seals the fate of Black's King. |
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Sep-01-07
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| kevin86: I saw that in the fullness of time that the h-pawn would capture to open up the rook-I didn't think it would come this soon---or that it would be mate. |
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Sep-01-07
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| TheaN: I don't know whether this would work or not, so I'm not giving the point yet. I got up to 16....Nf8. I got 17.exd6. Black's Bishop is stuck on e7, so something has to be done about the d-pawn. I though that 17....Qxd6 would fail to 18.Bxh7 pretty bad. On 17....Bxd6 I had 18.Bxh7 as well, 18....Nxh7 19.Ne4. The tempocheck 18....Bg4+ fails to 19.Kb1 Qa5 20.Nf6, right? Better yet, I guess white will still post his knight on f6. I know I did this rather slow, but I think it still works. Could anyone take a look at it? |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| rickturner7: I don't see the point of 11...Nxd4. That knight is just in white's way anyway and not going anywhere. |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| Fezzik: BTW,
The intermezzo, 15.Qh6 is absolutely essential. I wouldn't give marks if you play 15.e5? |
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| Sep-01-07 |
| PAWNTOEFOUR: i'm strictly a 'monday man'....but i thought i'd try my hand at this one...but even to my untrained eye,the bishop sack was pretty obvious...oh,where's my half a point? |
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| Sep-02-07 |
| King mega: WOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this rocks!
i solved! |
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Sep-02-07
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| MostlyAverageJoe: <TheaN: I got up to 16....Nf8. I got 17.exd6 ... Could anyone take a look at it> 17.exd6 looks drawish after 22-ply eval. Here are the lines after your proposed moves: (-0.04) 17... Qxd6 18. g6 fxg6 19. Bxb5 Qb4 20. Bxe8 Bb7 21. h5 Bxh1 22. hxg6 ... (+0.69) 17... Bxd6 18. Ne4 Bf4 19. Kb1 f5 20. Bxb5 Bd7 21. Nf6 axb5 22. Rxd7 Qxd7 23. Nxd7 Nxd7 ... <I though that 17....Qxd6 would fail to 18.Bxh7 pretty bad> Black wins after 18.Bhx7, because the queen escapes with a check: 18 ... Qf4+ 19. Kb1 Nxh7 etc |
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Sep-02-07
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| MostlyAverageJoe: <HelaNubo: Did you consider the even more surprising 16. Nd5! > <mig55: Maj, in your position, Nd5 wins.> <Iamsuperman: On MAJ's puzzle I would've gone with 16.Bxd5 Am I correct in saying that 16.Ne5 is worse? > <znprdx: Nd5 ... is so much prettier > I liked 16.Bxd5 initially, as it wins material quickly, but have to admit that I agree with the proponents of Ne5 -- indeed it is much prettier. It is also a "computer-killer" move - something that my Hiarcs looked at, but discarded. Only after forcing it into that line did it manage to figure out the surprising strength of that move (see later). Here again is my derivative puzzle (white to move): 
click for larger viewHiarcs saw two continuations (17-ply analysis, 15 CPU minutes): (+3.25) 16. Bxb5 axb5 17. Rxd8 Rxd8 18. g6 hxg6 19. Qxe5 Bd7 20. Nd5 exd5 ... (+3.21) 16. Rhg1 Bf8 17. Bxb5 axb5 18. Rxd8 Rxd8 19. Kb1 b4 20. Nb5 Bb7 ... Very interesting thighs happened after I forced the 16. Nd5 line. Initially, it evaluated at about +2.50, even after substantial analysis time. But the sequence of best subsequent moves was quite clear: 16. Nd5 exd5 17. exd5 Bd6 18. Qxh7+ Kf8 19. f4
leading to this position (black to move): 
click for larger viewwith several choices for the black, all bad:
19 ... e4 (+4.00)
19 ... Bg4 (+4.22, fails to 20.f5! - black cannot take the rook or mate in 3). The (initially) most attractive is attempt to evacuate the king, which might lead to: 19... Ke7 (+3.76) 20. g6 Kd7 21. fxe5 Rxe5 22. Rhf1 Kc7 23. g7 leading to this position (black to move): 
click for larger view where white is about to recover some serious material and rules on 70% of the board (the end of the line, btw, evaluates at +4.29, after making best moves for both - another illustration of the problems the computers have with looking sufficiently far ahead). My hat off to those who saw Nd5.
This makes this puzzle really one-of-a-kind, as it has stumped the software TWICE in the same game. I like that. |
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Sep-02-07
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| TheaN: <MAJ's drawish lines> Looks like you're right... I have to admit I was looking at some variations that would lead to a pretty drawish position, with some attack going for White; it was only then I noticed how easy White's initial attack actually was: the defenses against Ne4, Nf6 and h5 are pretty much forced and it still leads to mate. I probably wouldn't have lost the game, but I guess it's still 5/6 then. I'll be taking a look at today for a consilidating 6/7 XD. |
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Sep-02-07
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| TheaN: ....not to mention that my initial idea after 17....Qxd6 would fail badly, because then the check at f4 would work. |
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