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Mar-22-09
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| johnlspouge: Sunday (Insane):
Sadler vs Y Pelletier, 2003 (17...?) Black to play and win.
Material: 2N for 2B+3P. The White Kg8 has 1 legal move. The Black Qh3 could mate at g2 or h2 with support. The Black Ne5 and Nf6 would therefore provide a potent threat, if either arrived at the indefensible square h4 or remained immune at the defended squares f3 and g4. The Black Ra8 and Rd8 require activation, preferably by a lift onto the g- or h-files, and Rd8 is on the same file as the Black Pd5 and the White Qd1. The White Rb7 is loose. The White Qd1 and Be2 are burdened with defense of Pf3, which in turn is burdened with defending against …Ne5-g4 and …Nf6-g4. The Black Kg8 is vulnerable to back-rank mates, but is presently secure from check. Candidates (17…): Nxf3+, Neg4, Nfg4, Ng3, d4, Rac8, Ne4 17…Ne4 (threatening A.18…Nxc3 19…Nxe2 20…Nxf3+ 21…Qxh2# and B.18…Ng5 19…Nxf3+)
White can accept the sacrifice, but goes downhill fast: (1) 18.fxe4 dxe4
(threatening 19…Rxd1 and 19…Nxf3+ then
20…Qh2# or 20…exf3 21…Qg2#)
After acceptance, White has no feasible defense (not even the lateral 19.Qa4 or 19.Qc2), so he must refuse the sacrifice. To avoid both Threats A.18 and B.18 without giving up Qd1, White must protect Pc3 while threatening to eliminate one of the Black Ns. (2) 18.Qd4 (threatening 19.Qxe5 or 19.fxe4)
18…Ng6 (threatening 19…Nh4 20…Qg2#)
19.Kh1 [f4 Nh4 20.Bf3 Nxf3+ 21.Kh1 Qxh2#]
19…Nh4 20.Rg1 Nxf2#
Thus, White has no feasible defense. |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| znprdx: ..17.Ng3 18.Kh1 Nh4 19.Rg1 Nh5 20.Bf8 Qxf3+ 21.Qx[Q]f3 Nx[Q]f3 22.Rg2 R[a]b8 (23.Rxa7? Rb1) 23.Rx[R]b8 Rx[R]b8 24.Bd3 Ne1 25.Rg5 Nx[B]d3 < 
click for larger view> I spent over an hour moving the pieces trying all the seemingly crushing attack lines along the g file - yet from the beginning I noticed the trapped bishop at c1. My solution is like a problem composition - I just find it amazing to think this could be found OTB - and just in case this wasn't what was played - this is my story and I'm sticking to it. Try it- it is very pretty. Perhaps Kh1and Rg1 aren't forced - but if they aren't ...then g4, h4 setting up g5 etc. must surely win... |
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Mar-22-09
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| johnlspouge: In my Variation (1), I missed the lateral defense 19.Qb3 threatening mate. Apparently, my awareness of lateral Q defenses has improved, but I still need to work on it ;>) |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| tivrfoa: I think 18. Qd4 was a blunder.
18. fxe4 dxe4
19. Qe1 ~~~
white has 2 bishops and black one knight.
correct me, please. |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| tivrfoa: ops
18. fxe4 dxe4
19. Qe1 Ng4
20. Bxg4 Qxg4+
21. Kh1 Qf3+
22. Kg1 Rd5
mate |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| 5hrsolver: I kept trying 17..Ng6 with the intention of putting the knight on h4 and threatening mate but there is the defense with the white king going to h1 and rook going to g1. At this point I wished I had a knight on e4 so when the white rook goes to g1 I could play Nxf2#. After I gave up this line I found 17..Ne4 threatening Nxc3 and eliminating the e2 bishop or if white defends c3 then Ng5 threatening to capture on f3 and mate. Of course capturing the knight on e4 sets of another winning but by no means easier variation. What is beautiful to me is seeing the two black knights centralized on e4 and e5. Instead of moving backward with 17..Ng6 we move forward with Ne4! After looking at the game and seeing whites defense 18. Qd4 I was very happy to see that all of my initial wish with the black knight going to g6 was realized. |
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Mar-22-09
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| agb2002: White is two pawns ahead and has the bishop pair against two knights. However, his development is very poor and his king is in danger. I initially considered 17... d4 to enable the square d5 for the rook but after 18.cxd4 Rd5 19.e4 White seems to be winning. Another possibility is to incorporate the knight on f6 into attack, instead of a rook with 17... Ne4, threatening 18... Nxc3 - Nxe2+ and 18... Ng5 – Ngxf3+: A) 18.fxe4 dxe4 (threatening 19... Rxd8 and 19... Nf3+) A.1) 19.Qe1 Nf3+ 20.Bxf3 (20.Kh1 Qxh2#) exf3 and mate next. A.2) 19.f4 Rxd1
A.2.a) 20.Rxd1 Ng4 21.Bxg4 Qxg4+ 22.Kf2 Qxd1 23.c6 Qd5  . A.2.b) 20.Bxd1 Nf3+ 21.Bxf3 exf3 22.Rf2 (22.Kf2 Qg2+ 23.Ke1 Qe2#) Rd8 followed by ... Qc8, ... h5, etc. A.2.c) 20.fxe5 Rxc1 21.Rxc1 Qxe3+  .
A.3) 19.Qxd8+ Rxd8 20.Kh1 Nf3 21.Bxf3 exf3 22.Rg1 h5 23.c6 Rd1 . B) 18.Qd4 Ng6
B.1) 19.fxe4 Nh4 .
B.2) 19.Kh1 Nh4 20.Rg1 Nxf2#.
C) 18.f4 Nxc3 19.Qe1 Nxe2+ 20.Qxe2 Nf3+ 21.Qxf3 Qxf3 22.Bb2 (22.c6 d4) d4 23.Rb4 (23.Rd7 Qg4+; 23.Rb5 Qg4+ 24.Kh1 Qe2) Qg4+ 24.Kh1 Qe2 and Black should win. D) 18.Kh1 Nxc3 (18... Ng5 19.Rg1 Ngf3 20.Bxf3 Nxf3 21.Rg2) 19.Qc2 Nxe2 . I cannot find anything less disastrous for White than line C). Let's see. |
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Mar-22-09
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| agb2002: <johnlspouge: In my Variation (1), I missed the lateral defense 19.Qb3 threatening mate. Apparently, my awareness of lateral Q defenses has improved, but I still need to work on it ;>) > I can say the same... |
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Mar-22-09
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| CHESSTTCAMPS: The first impression is that black has a very strong initiative and a grip on the position for the two pawn deficit. The holes in white's king position are inviting targets for black's queen and knights. White's dark-squared bishop is a shut-in and all other white pieces are defensively deployed except for the Rb7. A fresh morning look reveals new perspectives. Obviously, black wants to add an attacker to put pressure on the weakened kingside. My first candidate 17...a5 now looks slow; in any case, white can simply play 18.Rb6 and prevent any rook lift on the 6th rank. There are other ways to bring a black rook into the attack - either Rac8 (Candidate #2 in order of occurence) followed by Rc6 or maybe even g5 (Candidate #3) is possible, to add a pawn and a rook to the attack. But black must work fast; otherwise, white can improve his position with Kh1 followed by Rg1-g3. Yesterday's puzzle illustrated how effectively a queen together with just one knight can work against a weakened king position. Hmmm-a queen and one knight- perhaps one of the knights is disposable. The 4th candidate immediately hit me as the move that best meets the requirements of the position: 17...Ne4! threatening Ng5 to complete the mating bind. Candidate #4
17...Ne4!
A. 18.fxe4 dxe4 19.Qa4 (or c2 or e1) Nf3+ 20.Bxf3 (or Kh1 21.Qh2#) exf3, white can't stop Qg2#. A.1 19.Qxd8+ Rxd8 20.f3 (or f4) exf3 wins another piece and the game.
A.2 19.Qb3 exf3 (Nxf3?? 20.Qxf7+ and white wins) 20.Bxf3 Nxf3# B. 18.Qd4 Ng6! 19.Kh1 (19.fxe4 Nh4 wins) Nh4 20.Rg1 Nxf2# C. 18.f4 Nxc3 followed by Nxe2+ and Nf3+ wins.
D. 18.Kh1 Nxc3 19.Qe1 Nxe2 20.Qxe2 Nxf3 wins
E. 18.Rb3 (or Bb2 or Bd2 or Qc2 or Re1) Ng5 leaves white defenseless against 19...Nxf3+ Time to check what happened.
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| Mar-22-09 |
| Samagonka: Ne4 has got to be the move, considering black's strong pawn in the d-file reinforced by the rook threatening the queen. It takes a fairly sober & logical mind which I didn't have today to analyse this. |
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Mar-22-09
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| Jimfromprovidence: I spent time studying this variation offered in the annotations by Pelletier. “18.fxe4 dxe4 19.Qb3 Kh8! 20.Rxf7 Nf3+ 21.Bxf3 exf3 22.Rxf3 Qxf3 with the idea Rac8-c5. “ After 20 Rxf7 I did not understand how white could possibly lose, then I finally saw it after 20…Nf3+.
click for larger view
It’s that e pawn that becomes critical. Now white has to give up both bishop and rook to avoid mate as after 21 Bxf3 exf3 black has the threat Qg2#. Now after 22 Rxf3 Qxf3 here is the position.
click for larger view
I’m not sure how black wins here after say 24 Qa4.
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Mar-22-09
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| Once: <jim> I don't think there is a clear white win from your last diagram. After 24. Qa4 Fritz evals as +2.1 - nice to have but not resignable yet. One possible line:
23. Qa4 Rac8 24. Qf4 Qe2 25. e4
Rc6 26. Qg3 Rg6 27. Bg5 Rf8 28. h4 h6 29. f4 hxg5 30. f5 Rc6 31. hxg5 Kg8 |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| WhiteRook48: I missed it! |
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Mar-22-09
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| AugustAle: Is it a mistake or irony; the mistakes made while pointing out the mistakes.
<Notes by Pelletier from Informant.<!! With the dual threats of 17...Nxc3 and 17...Ng5.>>
??18?? |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| znprdx: Something's not quite complete here here. ..17Ne4 18.f3 x[N]e4 d5xe4 As pointed out by < johnlspouge:> simply 19.Qb3 can be met by Rf8. Now it seems f3 may hold which qualifies as INSANE to be sure 21.Rf2 f3x[B]e2 22.Rxe2 Nf3+ 23.Kf2! Qxh2+ 24.Kx[N]f3 Qh1+ 25.Rg2 Qx[B]c126.c6 will probably still win but it won't be a walk in the park... I prefer my original idea...17.Ng6 (not g3 as initially posted) |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| znprdx: <Jimfromprovidence:>interesting ....Rd5 25.Qh4 h6 26.h4 (or maybe right away) |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| stukkenjager: 17... Ne4! 18.fxe4 (18.Qd4 Ng6!!) 18...dxe4 19.Qb3 Kh8 20.Rxf7 Nf3+ 21.Bxf3 exf3 22.Rxf3 Qxf3 23.Qa4 Rac8! 24.Qf4 Qe2 25.e4 Rc6! 26.Qg3 Re8 (26...Rg6) (26...Qxe4) 27.Qh3 Qxe4 28.f3 Qc4 29.Bd2 Rce6 30.Rf2 Qxc5 31.Qh4 Qxa3 looks like a possible black win to me. (-3.45) |
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Mar-22-09
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| Jimfromprovidence: Thanks <once> <stukkenjager> and <znprdx> for your input after the variation
17... Ne4 18.fxe4 dxe4 19.Qb3 Kh8! 20.Rxf7 Nf3+ 21.Bxf3 exf3 22.Rxf3 Qxf3 24 Qa4. It seems white's pawns were really ripe for plucking. |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| c o r e: Dang, <Once>, now I know why Fritz is so much better than me at this game. I never even considered 17.Rxb9! :) |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| Pawnage: <c o r e> I was gonna say that, but I was afraid <Once> would hit me :) |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| TheBish: Sadler vs Y Pelletier, 2003 Black to play (17...?) "Insane" (4 stars)
After several minutes thought, I believe the move must be 17...Ne4!! I came up with this after trying to find a way for Black to bring a rook to g6, and realizing there was no way to do that (without giving White ample time to defend). My next plan was to try to maneuver the f6 knight to a square that could attack f3 (like g5), thereby overwhelming White's defenses and forcing the win of the queen for a knight. So, being "insane", I went for the most insane looking knight move, and found 17...Ne4!! (!) An insane looking move that turns out to be crushing. 17...Ne4!! has three points:
(1) It threatens 18...Ng5, reaching my original objective. (2) It threatens 18...Nxc3 19. Qc2 Nxe2+ 20. Qxe2 Nxf3+, winning White's queen (for a knight). (3) If the knight is captured, then 18. fxe4 dxe4 attacks the queen, and sets up 19...Nf3+, for example 19. Bd2 Nf3+ 20. Bxf3 exf3, and Black must give up his queen to stop mate. The best defensive try (after 17...Ne4!!) seems to be 18. Qd4, but then Black has 18...Ng6!, planning 19...Nh4, and there is no defense: A) 19. Kh1 Nh4 20. Rg1 Nxf2 mate.
B) 19. fxe4 Nh4 20. Bf3 Nxf3+ and mate next move.
C) 19. Re1 Nh4 20. Bf1 Nxf3+ 21. Kh1 Qxh2 mate.
Black's best defense (after 17...Ne4) seems to be 18. fxe4 dxe4 19. f4 Rxd1 20. Bxd1, but then 20...Nf3+ 21. Bxf3 exf3 22. Rf2 Rd8, and White is busted. Let's see how close I got... |
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| Mar-22-09 |
| TheBish: Woo-hoo! Finally got a Sunday Insanity problem! (Sounds like a personal problem, but it's not!) |
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Mar-22-09
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| CHESSTTCAMPS: My previous post correctly nailed the game continuation, but I can't claim full credit for the correct analysis. My analysis line A.2 17....Ne4 18.fxe4 dxe4 19.Qb3 continued 19...exf3, which is not possible, because the pawn on f3 was already exchanged off. This is the problem of the "retained image" which may have caused a number of folks (including me, initially) to miss the defensive resource 19.Qb3 in the first place because of the phantom pawn on d5. The correct response to 19.Qb3 (Kh8! discussed in earlier posts) is really the critical part of the solution. |
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Mar-23-09
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| Once: <c o r e: Dang, <Once>, now I know why Fritz is so much better than me at this game. I never even considered 17.Rxb9!
:)>
LOL!!! Rxb9! I really must learn to type more slowly! <pawnage> No worries - I am a peaceful soul who is always ready to laugh at myself! |
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Mar-27-09
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| patzer2: For the Sunday March 22, 2009 puzzle solution, Black's surprise sham sacrifice in the center with 17...Ne4! undermines the weakened White castled position with multiple threats (amply described by Pelletier in the annotations to Black's 17th and White's 18th moves). I found Pelletier's line 18. fxe4 dxe4 19. Qb3!? Kh8! 20. Rxf7 Nf3+  very instructive, as it illustrates a transition from a middle game advantage to a likely won endgame. |
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