My first thought was 29.Bc5, eyeing a possible mate on f8, but that's not forcing enough; the Black rook on e8 can't be lured away. Then I took a look at <29.Bd4>, and things started to click.

<29...Qxe2 30.Rxg7+ Kh8 31.Rxg6+> is another familiar idea. Black is forced into <31...Qe5>, but after <32.Bxe5+> the unlucky castle is overloaded.

White is a bishop ahead, but the bishop is pinned, thrice attacked, and our eyes tell us it's going nowhere except into the captured pieces pile next to the board. But our eyes can deceive us sometimes, and when we bring imagination to bear, we can cleanse the doors of perception and "see" fresh possibilities.

Here White violently breaks the pin with the deeply counterintuitive

<29. d4!...<>>.

Black is now faced with what must have been a shocking dilemma, and has two lines of defense:

<(1) 29. ...xd4†
30. xd4, xe2??
31. d8†, e8
32. xe8#>.

So far, so doubleplusungood. But Black does have another and (slightly) better option:

<(2) 29. ...xe2
30. xg7†, h8
31. xg6†, e5
32. xe5†, xe5
33. f8#<>>.

Some rules, it has been said, were made to be broken. And as we see here, so were some pins.

White to play (29.?) "Medium/Easy"

White is up a piece (for a doubled g-pawn), but Black has piled on the pinned Be3 and appears to be winning the piece back. But White can turn the tables by switching to an attack on the king, taking advantage of the particular placement of Black's pieces with a combination of attacks.

29. Bd4!! Qxe2

Whether White's move warrants two exclams is debatable, but I'm giving it a second one for it's shock value; Black probably didn't see it coming, and assumed he was winning the piece back. If 29...Qxd4+ 30. Rxd4 Rxe2 31. Rd8+ and White mates. Black's queen is actually overloaded here, not able to guard both the Re8 and pawn on g7, with the back rank so weak.

30. Rxg7+ Kh8 31. Rxg6+ Qe5

Or 31...Re5 32. Rf8#, but resignation is more likely here.

It sure looks like white is going to have to give the piece back, so why not up the ante and make it a queen?

29 Bd4 Qxe2 30 Rxg7+ Kh8

I found all of this pretty quickly, but at this point I kept looking for a way to play the rook along the 7th rank (eg 31 Re7+), but that wasn't working.

Then I looked at moves like 31 Rff7, but that failed to 31...Qe1+ 32 Kh2 Qg3+.

Finally I looked again at the rook on g7, and this time the move

31 Rxg6+

jumped right out at me. Black is running low on moves now, having just

- 31...Re5, and
- 31...Qe5

Both lose quickly:

31...Re5 32 Rf8#

or

31...Qe5 32 Bxe5+ Rxe5 33 Rf8#

29...Qxe2 30.Rxg7+ Kh8 31.Rxg6+ Re5 (31...Qe5 32.Bxe5+ Rxe5 33.Rf8#) 32.Rf8#

29...Qxd4+ 30.Rxd4 Rxe2 31.Rd8+ Re8 32.Rxe8#

Bishop occupying the long diagonal brings win for the White, no matter what:

29.Bd4 Qxe2
30.Rxg2+ Kh8
31.Rxg6#

It is true that the CG environment is artificial. In a real game, no-one points out that a fancy tactical blow is available. Well, not within the rules anyway.

How can we spot more of these tactics in the real world? How can we transfer our "got it"s from CG to OTB? Can we have a little helper who tugs on our sleeve when a tactic is possible?

One concept that might help is the idea of a <half-mate>. A half-mate is when one of the two kings is close to mate. He is short of moves, perhaps even stalemated. There is a heap of firepower shining down on him.

When we see a half-mate on the board, whether it's our king or the enemy's, we need to be extra vigilant. This is a time when tactics <may> be possible. After all, if we can complete the mate pattern it doesn't matter how much wood we throw to get to that point.

Take today's POTD. White has two powerful rooks in the vicinity of the black king who only has one flight square - h1. We can dream of deflecting th e8 rook and playing Rd8 mate. Or we might be able to get in Rff7 followed by Rxg7+.

We lick our lips, rub our hands in anticipation. We're into half-mate territory. It's no guarantee that a tactic will be possible, but it's a sure-fire indication that we ought to be looking for one. The position is gnarly, crispy, ripe. If there was a musical soundtrack, it would be playing fast-paced dramatic music. Something is about to happen ...

And that's when we look at moves like 29. Rff7 (which doesn't work) and 29. Bd4 (which does). In each case, we are bringing another piece into the attack, even if it means dropping our queen.

<Once> I won't say I definitely wouldn't get this playing OTB, but I might well miss it. One of the attributes of the Master player is a kind of 6th sense about when a tactical strike will secure an advantage - I guess its the overall familiarity with patterns and positions. And the stronger the player the more developed that is and the more possibilities they will see.

<29 Bd4! ...>

29 ... Qxd4+
30 Rxd4 Rxe2
31 Rd8+ Re8
32 Rxe8#

originally i thought through the line 29. Rf7! i wanted to get either my queen or rook on the 7th rank for an assault on the white king, but then black could sac my bishop with qxe3+ and white looses the initiative. sure white would be able to eliminate a lot of the black pawns on the 7th rank and this should be winning, but why trouble oneself with that.

in short, 29. bd4!! is devastating. if black decides to sac my queen then a simple 30. rg7+, Kh8 is followed with 31. rh7+, Kg8 followed by mate 32. rh8#

(29...Qxd4+ 30. Rxd4 wins as 30...Rxe2 31. Rd8+ Re8 32. Rxe8#)

<30. Rxg7+ Kh8 31. Rxg6+! Qe5>

(31...Re5 32. Rd8#)

<32. Bxe5+ Rxe5 33. Rd8+ Re8 34. Rxe8#>

Of course, the R that delivers the coup de grace is the R on f1.

This is an oversight, but thankfully not a serious one that might lose me points for today, as it is obvious that the only R that can deliver mate is the idle one and not the one on g6! ;)