Mar-19-16
 | | Penguincw: Saturday puzzle. I got the logical 44.Rxg6, which removes the pawn on g6, which guards the f5 knight and h5 pawn. I then thought about whether to capture with check or take the knight. 45.Rxh5+ ends with 45...Nh6, knight's saved, so queen has to take first. The rest of the puzzle just involves a nice chase of the king down the board. |
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| Mar-19-16 | | stacase: So how come I miss the first move on every puzzle this week and today, it's as obvious as the north end of a south bound goat? |
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| Mar-19-16 | | dfcx: I can see the first few moves.
44.Rxg6 Rxg6 45.Qxf5 Kg7 46.Qxh5 Qxf4 47.Qh8+ Kf7 48.Rh7+ Ke6 49.Qe8+ Kf5
click for larger viewHere I had a hard time choosing the next move. It's midnight here on the east coast and I better go to bed now. May take another look tomorrow with fresh mind. |
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Mar-19-16
 | | al wazir: I got the first move. Big deal. There's a whole lot more work to do for the win. After 44. Rxg6 Rxg6 45. Qxf5 Kg7 46. Qxh5, what happens if black plays 46...Qxf5 ? The natural continuation, 47. Qh8+ (not 47. Rf3 Qc1+ 0:1) Kf7 48. Rh7+ Ke6 49. Qe8+ Kf5 50. Rf7+ Rf6, etc., doesn't seem to be getting anywhere. 47. Qh7+ isn't obviously better. The line played in the game doesn't look forced. Not even close. |
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| Mar-19-16 | | yadasampati: I got the first move Rxg6 within 15 seconds, purely by intuition. Not the first time by the way: our subconscious mind is capable of solving problems without the "traditional" computations of our conscious mind. In this respect, I would like to refer to Daniel Tammet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danie...), who can perform amazingly complex mathematical tasks (multiplications, divisions, etc.) within seconds. The solutions just come to him: when he thinks of a number he literally sees a shape in his mind. Combining the shapes in a certain way leads to another shape, that he can associate again with a number, being the solution of the problem ... See "The Boy With The Incredible Brain": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbA... I am therefore pretty much convinced that our brains are potentially much more powerful than any current day computer |
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| Mar-19-16 | | patzer2: Got the first two moves of today's Saturday puzzle solution with 44. Rxg6 Rxg6 45. Qxf5, but after 45...Kg7 I struck out with 46. Rxh5  (+0.78 @ 22 depth, Deep Fritz 15).Instead, the game continuation 46. Qxh5!  (+13.08 @ 21 depth, Deep Fritz 15) wins with precise attacking play. One point of 46. Qxh5! is that 46...Qxf4 is refuted by 47. Qh8+ Kf7 48. Rh7+ Ke6 49. Qe8+ when play might continue 49...Kf5 (49... Kf6 50. Qe7+ Kf5 51. Rf7+ ) 50. Qd7+ Kg5 (50... Ke5 51. Re7+ Kf6 52. Rf7+ ) 51. Qd5+ Qf5 (51... Kg4 52. Qh5#) 52. Rh5+ Kxh5 53. Qxf5+ (+79.99 @ 23 depth, Deep Fritz 15). P.S.: Black's decisive mistake according to the computers is 43...Qc7? which allows 44. Rxg6! (+14.16 @ 20 depth, Deep Fritz 15). Instead, 43...Qf2 (+1.06 @ 23 depth, Deep Fritz 15) puts up more resistance. Earlier, instead of 37...Rg7? allowing 38. Nf6 (+1.06 @ 22 depth, Deep Fritz 15), Black could have kept it level with 37...Raf8 = (0.16 @ 21 depth, Deep Fritz 15). |
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| Mar-19-16 | | diagonalley: <al wazir> ... me too! (as usual) |
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| Mar-19-16 | | morfishine: <stacase> lol |
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| Mar-19-16 | | Virgil A: Whiskey Oscar Whiskey |
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| Mar-19-16 | | goodevans: The first three moves are pretty easy to find after which the only response I was concerned about was <46... Qxf4> which leaves material equal and black with some attacking chances of his own. After 46.Qxf4 we have <47.Qh8+ Kf7 48.Rh7+ Ke6 49.Qc8+ Ke5> (49...Kf6 50.Qf8+ Kg5 51.Rh5+) <50.Qb8+ Rd6 51.Re7+> and white seems to be winning material and keeping the initiative in all lines but needs to be ever wary of ...Qf1#. To be honest way to complex for me to see all lines to a conclusion but I think l saw enough that I'd have played it in a game. |
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| Mar-19-16 | | mel gibson: I didn't see this one - it was too complicated.
44.Rxg6 is correct according to the computer & an easy win for White. Black played a bad move on 43...Qc7.
If Black would have played 43..Qf2
black would be losing by only -1.22
at a depth of 18.
So black made a mistake on move 43. |
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| Mar-19-16 | | King Sacrificer: <yadasampati: I got the first move Rxg6 within 15 seconds, purely by intuition. Not the first time by the way: our subconscious mind is capable of solving problems without the "traditional" computations of our conscious mind. In this respect, I would like to refer to Daniel Tammet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danie...), who can perform amazingly complex mathematical tasks (multiplications, divisions, etc.) within seconds. The solutions just come to him: when he thinks of a number he literally sees a shape in his mind. Combining the shapes in a certain way leads to another shape, that he can associate again with a number, being the solution of the problem ... See "The Boy With The Incredible Brain": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbA...
I am therefore pretty much convinced that our brains are potentially much more powerful than any current day computer> Very interesting. He reminds me David Caine from Improbable (a novel by Adam Fawer). I'm not sure if everyone has some of this skill though. After taking a quick glance at all possible exchange sacs, you have a probability of 33% to find the right answer by pure luck. |
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| Mar-19-16 | | alphee: I got the first ones ♖xg6 ♖xg6 but could not really figure out the rest as there was no short solution and that's I would have played as it seemed logical. |
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Mar-19-16
 | | Jimfromprovidence: Really liked 50 Rd7 below.
click for larger viewNot only is it the only move that is winning but also prevents a mate in one for black with the queen at d5 or d1. Also thought black would consider 50...Qxf4, but that loses after 51 Qd8+ Kf5 52 Rf7+. 
click for larger viewFWIW...The text 50...Qa3 also comes with a mate in one threat at f3. |
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| Mar-19-16 | | RandomVisitor: After 19.0-0 black had equal chances:
click for larger viewKomodo-9.3-64bit: 65:131
<+0.00/36 19...N8d7> 20.h3 Qe6 21.Qb2 Bxc3 22.Qxc3 Rfe8 23.Nh2 f6 24.f4 fxe5 25.fxe5 Nf8 26.Qc2 Qe7 27.Ndf3 Ne6 28.g3 Rf8 29.Kg2 Qb4 30.Rfb1 Qe7 31.Rf1 |
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| Mar-19-16 | | morfishine: <yadasampati> Interesting comments on subconscious mind vs conscious mind Incredibly, this concept applies also to golf. The application is used to solve the problem of the golfer "tightening up" by lessening tension. It works by focusing one's attention on a body part, for example, the ankle, and imagining how this part moves in space during a golf shot. During my practice sessions, I like to move around focusing on waist, knee, hip, neck, etc. All we are doing is "feeling" how this particular body part is moving in space during the practice shot. This focusing results in any tension in the forearms and/or shoulders disappearing; Meanwhile, now the subconscious mind can operate at maximum efficiency correcting any problems during a swing in mid-swing Sounds crazy? It actually works
***** |
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| Mar-19-16 | | saturn2: <yadasampati> In one of his books Suetin states that about 80 percent of the moves that come in the first moments to the mind of a chessmaster are the best moves. So the intuition of chessmasters in general is not bad. However playing only according to intuition is not enough to make progress in chess because if 20 percent of ones moves are not the best choice one can hardly win a game at higher level.
By the way Rxg6 followed by QxN
I also found at first glance, but then my intuition was wrong for it went for Rxh5 instead of Qxh5. |
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| Mar-19-16 | | agb2002: White has a rook for a knight and a pawn.
The black queen aims at f4 and supports the advance of the c-pawn. White can continue the attack against the black king with 44.Rxg6 Rxg6 (44... Ne7 45.Rh6+ Rh7 46.Rxh7+ Kxh7 47.Qf7+ and mate next) 45.Qxf5 A) 45... Rh6 46.Qf8+ Kh7 47.Re3 with the threat 48.Re7+ looks winning (47... Kg6 48.Re6+ Kh7 49.Rxh6#; 47... Qd6 48.Re7+ Kg6 49.Rg7#). B) 45... Qg7 46.Rxh5+
B.1) 46... Rh6 47.Rxh6+ Qxh6 48.Qc8+ wins the b-pawn with check at least. For example, 48... Kh7 49.Qxb7+ Kh8 50.Qc8+ Qg8 51.Qc6 followed by b6, b7, etc. B.2) 46... Kg8 47.Qc8+ Kf7 (47... Qf8 48.Rh8+ wins) 48.Qxb7+ followed by 49.Qxg7 and 50.Rc5 with a won ending. C) 45... Kg7 46.Rxh5 looks unclear. For example, 46... c3 47.Qc5 Qxf4 and White probably must settle for perpetual 48.Qe7+ Kg8 (48... Qf7 49.Rh7+) 49.Qe8+, etc. -----
Another option is to focus on the c-pawn with 44.Rc3. For example, 44... Nd6 (44... Qxf4 45.Rxc4 seems to favor White because the c-pawn has disappeared and the heavy pieces gain activity) 45.Rd1 Rd7 46.Rxc4 Qxc4 47.Qxc4 Nxc4 48.Rxd7 with a won ending. -----
I don't know. I think I'd play 44.Rc3. |
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| Mar-19-16 | | RandomVisitor: earlier black should have tried 16...Bxf5 17.Qxf5 Bb4
click for larger viewKomodo-9.3-64bit: 65:131
<-0.51/38 18.Qc2 Re8 19.0-0 N8d7> 20.Rfc1 f6 21.exf6 Qxf6 22.Nf1 Kg8 23.Bc3 Nf8 24.Ne3 Bxc3 25.Qxc3 Re4 26.Nf1 Ng6 27.Ng3 Re6 28.Nh5 Qf5 29.Ng3 Qf8 30.Re1 Rxe1+ 31.Qxe1 Nf4 32.Qe5 Qf7 33.Qd6 Nc8 34.Qd8+ Qf8 35.Qxf8+ Kxf8 36.Ne5 Nd6 37.Kf1 Re8 38.Re1 g5 39.Ne2 Kg7 40.Nxf4 gxf4 41.g3 Nf5 -0.64/38 18.Bc1 Qe7 19.0-0 N8d7 20.Nb1 Rac8 21.Qh5 f6 22.Nh4 Qe8 23.Ng6+ Kg8 24.Qg4 fxe5 25.Nxf8 Nxf8 26.dxe5 Qxe5 27.Be3 h5 28.Qd4 Nbd7 29.Qxe5 Nxe5 30.Rd1 Nd3 31.Ra2 Ne6 32.Bb6 Kf7 33.Kf1 Kf6 34.Rc2 Nec5 35.Bxc5 Rxc5 36.Nc3 Bxc3 37.Rxc3 d4 38.Rdxd3 dxc3 39.Rxc3 Ke5 40.Ke2 Kd4 41.Kd2 g6 42.Kc2 Re5 43.Kd2 |
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| Mar-19-16 | | drollere: 46. ... Qxf4 is worth considering. |
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| Mar-19-16 | | Patriot: I can't believe I saw this all the way to the end. LOL. But seriously, I saw 44.Rxg6! Rxg6 45.Qxf5 begins a nice attack (not 45.Rxh5+ Nh6). |
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Kibitzing
sac: 44.Rxg6