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| Jun-30-10 | | TheBish: Well, at least I'm in good company by missing this! (Honestly, Wednesdays are usually so easy I rushed through this one, missing the simple two-move defense (40...Qc1+ 41. Kh2 Qh6). Of course (as has been pointed out already) the right move is 40. Qg5!. Black can still try 40...Qc1+, but this time it costs her her queen! A typical line might go 40. Qg5 Rg8 41. Ne5! Qa2 (or 41...h6 42. Nf7+ Kh7 43. Qf5#) 42. Ng6+ hxg6 43. Qh4+ Bh6 44. Qxh6#. |
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Jun-30-10
 | | lost in space: <<Once>> wrote <To summarise: 40. Qg5 is a forced mate for white.
40. Qd7 isn't a forced mate, but wins a pawn and that ought to be good enough. 40. Rf7 isn't a forced mate, but it swaps off a pair of rooks and white ought to be able to win by virtue of his better pawns. 40. Nf6 throws away the advantage to 40...Qc1+ 41. Kh2 Qh6 Everything else drops material and loses>
Yes, you are right. Nuts, missed it. |
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Jun-30-10
 | | patzer2: For today's Wednesday puzzle, I picked 40. Qg5! which Fritz 10 indicates is the strongest winning solution. I thought about 40. Nf6? but couldn't find an answer to 40...Qc1+ 41. Kh2 Qh6  to  . The game continuation 40. Rf7!? might also win, but it gets complicated after 40...Rxf7 41. Qxf7 Qc1+ 42. Kh2 Qa3! 43. Ne5!  to  . Much easier is 40. Qg5! , when play might well continue 40...Qd1+ (40... Rg8 41. Ne5! h6 42. Nf7+ Kh7 43. Qf5#) 41. Kh2 Rg8 42. Ne5! h6 43. Nf7+ Kh7 44. Qf5#. |
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Jun-30-10
| | patzer2: <Once> Nice summary of the alternatives to 40. Qg5! I thought for a while about 40. Qd7 Qc1+ 41. Kh2 Qg5 42. Qxc7 , but being lazy today, maybe due to the heat in the Southern USA this June, I thought let me see if there's some way to stop that annoying 40...Qc1+ to reposition the Black Queen to defend. Hence the inspiration for 40. Qg5!, which threatens an easy mate by putting a stop to the 40...Qc1+ defensive maneuvers. P.S.: Speaking of the South being hot today, congratulations to the South Carolina Gamecocks on winning the College World Series in Omaha. With the South winning in football (Alabama and the SEC), basketball (Duke and the ACC) and baseball (South Carolina and the SEC) the South (at least in NCAA competition) has risen in 2010. |
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Jun-30-10
 | | YouRang: Shame on me. I saw the pretty 40.Nf6 and patted myself on the back. "I might just go tell everyone that it was a tad easy for a Wednesday", is what I thought. In checking, I saw that black had a resourceful way out with ...Qc1+ and ...Qh6, thwarting my pretty attack. Instead of a pat on the back, I get a kick in the butt. :-( |
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Jun-30-10
 | | Once: <YouRang: Instead of a pat on the back, I get a kick in the butt. :-(> You might think yourself lucky! I spent the whole of yesterday in the casualty department of my local hospital, undergoing the agony known as kidney stones. So I guess there is a heirarchy at work at here. I would rather have a pat on the back than a kick in the butt. And I would rather have a kick in the butt than a pain in the privates. :-) Good puzzle, though. |
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Jun-30-10
 | | tarek1: I suggest to start with
<40.Qg5>
threatening mate in 1 and defending against Qc1+ and Qg5 by Black <40...Rg8>
Here Bf6 or Be5 drop a piece for nothing :
if 40...Bf6 simply 41.Nxf6 renewing the mate threat and adding a new one : 41...Rg8 42.Rxh7#
if 40...Be5 simply 41.Nxe5 followed by quick mate.
<41.Ne5> another mate threat by Nf7#. All possible defenses by Black are :
A) <41...h5 42.Qxh5+ Bh6 43.Qxh6#> B) <41...h6 42.Nf7+ Kh7 43.Qf5#> C) <41...Bxe5 42.Qxe5+ Rg7 43.Qxg7#> D) <41...Bf6/Bh6 42.Nf7#> E) <41...Qa2> we could win the queen by Nf7+ Qxf7 Rxf7 but why bother ?
<42.Ng6+ hxg6 43.Qh4+ Bh6 44.Qxh6#> In all these lines the interposition of Qd1+ Kh2 is irrelevant and simply changes the move numbers. |
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| Jun-30-10 | | cunctatorg: 40. Qd7? Qc1+ [40... Rg8? 41. Nf6 (41. Nh6?? Qc1+ 42. Kh2 Qf1? 43. Qxg7! Rxg7 44. Rb8+ Rg8 45. Rxg8#; 42... Qxh6 )41... Qc1+ 42. Kh2 Qh6 43. Nxg8 Kxg8 44. Rb8+ Bf8 45. Qf7 ]
41. Kh2 Qg5 and the outcome is unclear... |
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| Jun-30-10 | | zb2cr: Spoiler! I, too, did not see 40. Qg5--but I see I'm in good company. |
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| Jun-30-10 | | gofer: The black queen can give check and come back to help (Qc1+ Kh2 Qh6) or threaten to give mate (Qc1+ Kh2 Qf1), which means white needs to be careful. So the obvious move 40 Nf6 loses! 40 Nf6 Qc1+ 41 Kh2 Qh6 now white is in trouble! So we need to stop the black queen from getting back to h6, but it would be nice if we could also threaten mate at the same time! 40 Qg5! ...
Now white as stopped the queen from getting back to help and so it is N + R + Q against R + B, which is a slaughter. If the bishop
moves it it will be taken. The Queen has a spite check, but nothing more, so the rook must try to stop Qxg7#. 40 ... Rg8
41 Ne5! ... Now white is threatening Nf7# too!
41 ... Bxe5
42 Qxe5+ Rg7
43 Qxg7#/Rb8#
41 ... h6/h5
42 Nf7+ Kh7
43 Qf5#
41 ... Qa2 (getting back to h6 wont stop Nf7#)
42 Ng6 hxg6
43 Qh4+ Bh6
44 Qxh6#
Time to check |
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Jun-30-10
 | | scormus: Another tricky one. After trying several promising looking lines I have to judge that the most positive way to win is 40 Qd7 Rd8 (effectively forced, Qc1+ only delays things) 41 Ne5 (threatening a beautiful smothered #, and with BR and B immobilised as well) h6 or h5 42 Nf7+ Kh7 43 Qf5# Other attempts relying on Nh6 (eg 40 Qxf8+) fail because of 41 ... Qc1+ Now check |
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Jun-30-10
 | | agb2002: White has a knight and a pawn for a bishop.
Black threatens 40... Rxf5, 40... Qc1+ 41.Kh2 Qf1 (or the much weaker 41... Qxa3). The black castle is weak and poorly defended, in particular the spot h7. This suggests 40.Nf6, threatening 41.Qxh7#: A) 40... Rxf6 41.Rb8+ Bf8 (41... Rf8 42.Rxf8+ Bxf8 43.Qxf8#) 42.Rxf8+ (or 42.Qxf6+) and mate next. B) 40... Bxf6 41.Qxh7#.
C) 40... Qc1+ 41.Kh2 Qh6 42.Rxg7 (otherwise the knight seems lost) C.1) 42... Qxf6 43.Qxh7#.
C.2) 42... Rxf6 43.Rxh7+ Kg8 (43... Qxh7 44.Qxf6+ and 45.Qxf3 + - [3P]) 44.Rxh6 Rxf5 45.Rxc6 + - [3P]. C.3) 42... Kxg7 43.Nh5+ Kg8 (43... Kh8 44.Qe5+ Kg8 45.Nf4 unclear [N+P vs R]) 44.Qe5 - /+ [N+P vs R]. Another possibility is 40.Qxf8+ Bxf8 41.Nf6 Qxd3 (or 41... Bg7 42.Rb8+ Bf8 43.Rxf8+ Kg7 44.Nd7 Qc1+ 45.Kh2 Qf1 and mate soon) 42.Rxh7+ Qxh7 43.Nxh7 d3 44.Kf1 d2 wins. The check on c1 is a bit annoying and the black bishop lacks mobility, so 40.Qg5: A) 40... Rg8 41.Nh6
A.1) 41... Qd1+ 42.Kh2 Qf1 43.Nf7#.
A.2) 41... Bxh6 42.Qxh6 Rg7 43.Rb8+ Rg8 44.Qf6#.
B) 40... Bf6 41.Nxf6 + -.
Other alternatives are not so clear, for example 40.Rf7: A) 40... Rb(e)8 41.Rxg7
A.1) 41... Kxg7 42.Qf6+ Kg8 43.Nh6#.
A.2) 41... Qc1+ 42.Kh2 Kxg7 43.Qxf6+ Kg8 44.Nh6+ Qxh6 45.Qxh6 + - [Q+P vs R]. A.3) 41... Rb(e)1+ 42.Kh2 only delays the disaster.
B) 40... Rxf7 41.Qxf7
B.1) 41... Qc5 42.Qxf3 Qxa3 43.Qxc6 + - [N+2P vs B] (43... Qxd3 44.Qe8+ Bf8 45.Qxf8#). B.2) 41... h6 42.Qxf3 Qc1+ 43.Kg2 Qxa3 44.Qxc6 Qxd3 45.Nxh6 and White is two pawns ahead but the d-pawn may cause some problems. |
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| Jun-30-10 | | gofer: I thought yesterday's was much trickier than today's. But it seems many of the regulars have come unstuck today... ...nice puzzle CG! |
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Jun-30-10
| | scormus: Damn! Too much of a hurry. I should set up a board. But should have seen Qc1+ defends against the #. Should have seen Qg5 too. Sigh :( |
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| Jun-30-10 | | CHESSTTCAMPS: White, up a pawn, has all pieces poised for a mating attack against the black king. Black is also close to a mate with the strong pawn on f3, worth a piece in a position like this. With the move (ignoring that white's queen is en prise), black could play 41... Qc1+ 42.Kh2 Qf1 and white would be out of luck. Therefore, white must finish or face a possible loss. There are forcing moves that fail, e.g. 40.Nf6?? works against everything except 40... Qc1+ 41.Kh2 Qh6 and white loses a piece. Another forcing move, 40.Qd7 can be met by 40... Qc1+ 41.Kh2 Qg5. This suggests another forcing move that has the secondary advantage of keeping the BQ from returning to defense of the king: 40.Qg5!
All bishop moves in defense of the threat Qxg7# allow a capture followed by a quick mate, so the best defense seems to be 40... Rg8 41.Nf6! Qd1+ 42.Kh2 Qf1 43.Qxg7+! Rxg7 44.Rb8+ forcing mate. |
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Jun-30-10
 | | FSR: 40.Nf6!, which I believe qualifies as a Nowotny interference, is crushing, e.g. 40...Bxf6 41.Qxh7# or 40...Rxf6 41.Rb8+. |
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| Jun-30-10 | | CHESSTTCAMPS: Wow, a lot of folks fell into the trap that I almost fell into. I was close to posting the same solution. It has been established that retreating queen moves are sometimes hard to find. Apparently 40.Nf6 does not lose outright, though. <<agb2002> C) 40... Qc1+ 41.Kh2 Qh6 42.Rxg7 ...> What about 42...Qxg7? |
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Jun-30-10
 | | hms123: Thanks for all the nominations. There is still time to make additional ones if you wish. <We are announcing an award for the best contribution or series of contributions to the <Puzzle of the Day> by a non-premium member in the past year. The award—a one-year premium membership from the <Rinus Award> fund in memory of User: Rinus –will be used to encourage non-premium members to contribute to the <chessgames.com> community through the posting of analysis or other chess-related discussion at the <POTD>. Please post nominations at User: hms123 some time in the next few weeks. Although we will be paying particular attention to the nominations and votes from those premium members who represent some of the best of what chessgames.com has to offer, all (including non-premium members) are welcome to nominate and vote. We thank everyone at the site for sharing so much information with us.> |
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| Jun-30-10 | | turbo231: missed it hard one |
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Jun-30-10
| | FSR: Dang! Should've looked a little more carefully. |
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Jun-30-10
 | | Marmot PFL: 40 Qg5 seems to win, Rg8 looks forced, then either 41 Ne5 or Nf6. Probably white was in time trouble and played the weaker Rf7. |
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Jun-30-10
 | | Patriot: This was a toughie! At first I looked at 40.Nf6, but then noticed what I call "check and defend": 40...Qc1+ 41.Kh2 Qh6. Then I tried "gaining time" with 40.Kh2 but that loses instantly to 40...Rxf5. I also looked at the silly 40.Rxg7?? (40...Rxf5--simple enough) and the more promising 40.Qxf8+ but then comes "check and defend" again: 40...Bxf8 41.Nf6 Qc1+ followed by 42...Qh6. So...what about the simple 40.Qd7? 40...Rg8 seems forced 41.Nf6 Qc1+ 42.Kh2 Qh6 43.Nxg8. I didn't see a refute, but someone pointed out the simple 40...Qc1+ followed by 41...Qg5. (Reminder: ALWAYS look at checks FIRST!) Put me into the group that missed this. This was definitely hard for a Wednesday. |
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Jun-30-10
 | | amadeus: I thought today was Tuesday and just went for Nf6. Doh! |
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Jun-30-10
| | agb2002: <CHESSTTCAMPS: Wow, a lot of folks fell into the trap that I almost fell into. I was close to posting the same solution. It has been established that retreating queen moves are sometimes hard to find. Apparently 40.Nf6 does not lose outright, though. <<agb2002> C) 40... Qc1+ 41.Kh2 Qh6 42.Rxg7 ...> What about 42...Qxg7?
>
So 40.Nf6 is even worse than I thought... |
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Jun-30-10
| | agb2002: My move 41.Nh6 is a blunder that spoils the victory: 40.Qg5 Rg8 41.Nh6 Bxh6 42.Qxh6 (better 42.Qf6+ Bg7 43.Rxg7 to get perpetual) Rxg3+ and Black delivers mate. A black day. |
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