| May-21-16 | | znsprdx: Swashbuckling like the good old days of Lasker and Napier. I presume that time pressure had the upper hand -would 37. Ne6 + have made any difference? |
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| May-22-16 | | Calar: 37.Ne6+ Ke5 and Black already has numerous threats White has no way of defending against: a) Kxd5 winning a piece
b) Rxe6 winning two minor pieces for a rook with an easily winning endgame
c) Bxe3+ with Bc1 and b-pawn can only be stopped by giving away the piece |
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May-23-16
 | | patzer2: Black's surpise 20...d4!  (-4.00 @ 28 depth, Stockfish 7) proves White's g-pawn advance with 19. g4? and 20. g5? to be a flawed plan.Instead, 19. Rd2 Ne5 20. Rfd1 Rd7 21. Nd3 = holds the position. |
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| Jan-13-18 | | mel gibson: Quite difficult with many threats.
Stockfish 8 says:
20.g5 d4
(20. .. d4 (d5-d4 ♗c3xd4 ♘e5-f3+ ♕h3xf3 ♗c6xf3 ♗d4xf6 ♕a8-c8 ♖d1-c1
h7-h6 ♘e2-g3 h6xg5 ♗f6xg5 ♖a7-b7 ♗b3-d5 ♗f3xd5 ♘f4xd5 ♖e8-e5 ♘d5-f6+ ♔g8-g7
f2-f4 ♖e5-e6 ♘f6-d5 ♖e6-d6 e3-e4 ♖b7xb2 f4-f5 ♖b2xa2 ♘d5-c3 ♖a2-b2 ♘c3-a4
♖b2-b4 ♘a4xc5 ♖d6-c6 ♘c5-d3 ♖b4-b3 ♖c1-d1 ♔g7-g8 ♖f1-f2 ♖c6-d6 ♖f2-d2 g6xf5
e4xf5 ♕c8-b7 f5-f6 ♕b7-b6+ ♔g1-f1) +4.03/34 160) score for black +4.03 depth 34 |
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Jan-13-18
 | | wtpy: Much easier than yesterday. 20...d4 screams to be played. |
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Jan-13-18
| | patzer2: For today's Saturday puzzle solution, I remembered 20...d4! -+ from my look last year. For an improvement, instead of 16. Nce2 Bc6 = (-0.13 @ 30 ply, Stockfish 8), White can secure the advantage and maintain the initiative with 16. Bc1 Bd6 17. Bb3 c4 18. Ba4 ⩲ (+ 0.44 @ 34 ply, Stockfish 8). |
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| Jan-13-18 | | mel gibson: <wtpy: Much easier than yesterday. 20...d4 screams to be played.> Yes but the game is not so easy.
I did an very interesting computer experiment.
Using my Arena 3.5.1 interface play computer against computer - I let a weaker engine the Arena SOS 5.1
with a rating of about 2560 play the winning side Black in this game at move 20 &
let Stockfish 8 - rating about 3300 - play White
at 5 seconds each per move.
Guess what? - Stockfish 8 got a draw out of the game at move 64! |
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Jan-13-18
 | | diagonalley: ok, but even if you get the first move, the continuation/s seem damn near impenetrable. <diagonalley>: nul points :-( |
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| Jan-13-18 | | mel gibson: < diagonalley: ok, but even if you get the first move, the continuation/s seem damn near impenetrable. <diagonalley>: nul points :-(> Yes - and a human would not throw away
their Queen as Stockfish 8 did -
that's exactly what the human player did in the example above -
played so as not to lose their Queen - which was the wrong move.
This game is very difficult & beyond almost any player today. |
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Jan-13-18
 | | agb2002: Only two pawns traded.
White threatens gxf6 and exerts pressure on the d-pawn and on the a1-h8 diagonal. Black can open the a8-h1 diagonal and threaten Nf3+ followed by Ng5+, so 20... d4: A) 21.gxf6 Nf3+ 22.Kg2(h1) Ng5+ wins decisive material. B) 21.Be4 Nxe4 wins a piece.
C) 21.Qg3 Ne4 wins a piece.
D) 21.Rfe1 Nf3+ 22.Kf1 Nxg5 22.Qg3 (22.Qh4 Bg2+ 23.Kg1 Nf3+ 24.Kxg2 Nxh4+ and mate in two) 22... Nge4 wins a piece at least. E) 21.exd4 Nf3+ as in A. |
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Jan-13-18
 | | gofer: Okay, I am little bit confused, as everyone is saying, <20 ... d4> is absolutely
obvious and so is <21 f3> as its the only way to stop <21 ... Nf3+> without
dropping more material, but I have no idea why black played <21 ... dxc3> it
doesn't look as strong as playing <21 ... Nxf3+> immediately. The point being
that the king doesn't have an escape square, even though it looks like he
does...
<20 ... d4>
<21 f3 Nf3+>
22 Kf2 Ne4+!
click for larger view23 Kg2 Nxc3! -+
23 Kxf3 Nxg5++ -+
So, 22 Kf2 isn't playable. That just leaves Rxf3! <22 Rxf3 Bxf3>
click for larger viewAt this point, white's world seems to crumble apart... 23 gxf6? Bxe2
24 Nxe2 Rxe3! -+
23 exd4 Bxe2
24 Nxe2 Rxe2 (Re1? Nh5! -+)
25 d5 Nh5 -+
<So what have I missed!??!?> |
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| Jan-13-18 | | groog: Like yesterday I got the first move. Unlike yesterday I hadn't a clue what black was on about. |
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| Jan-13-18 | | Whitehat1963: Enormously complicated exchanges! |
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| Jan-13-18 | | scholes: Cg sf line after 21 ..nxf3
-3.32 (22 ply) 22.Rxf3 Bxf3 23.gxf6 Bxe2 24.Nxe2 Rxe3 25.Qf1 dxc3 26.Nxc3 Rf3 27.Qg2 Rxf6 28.Qxa8 Rxa8 29.Nd5 Rd6 30.Bc4 Rad8 31.Nf6+ Kh8 32.Rxd6 Bxd6 33.Ng4 Kg7 34.Nf2 a5 You can request cg sf analysis on own analysis too. |
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| Jan-13-18 | | Honey Blend: Although it looks like a swindle, after 37. ♘xg6+ ♔xg6 38. ♗f7+ ♔g5 39. ♗xe8 ♘xe3, things still looks hopeless. ...c3 will soon follow.
click for larger viewI'd think a bit better may be 37. ♘d3+ followed by ♘xb2. |
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Jan-13-18
 | | morfishine: Complex and fascinating game
I quickly settled on <20...d4> but certainly didn't grind forward 17 more moves ***** |
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Jan-13-18
| | Grandma Sturleigh: <gofer> Stockfish likes 21...Nxf3+ (which I also chose) but it likes 21...dxc3 better. One reason is Stockfish rates 24...Rxe3! as even stronger than Navara's 24...cxb2. 
click for larger viewOne line is 25. Kxe3 Bc5+ 26. Nd4 Qe8+ 27. Ne6 Ng5 
click for larger viewWhite is clearly not going to last much longer. |
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Jan-13-18
 | | malt: Gone for <20...d4> 21.f3
(21.ed4 or 21.B:d4 Nf3+)
21...N:f3+ 22.R:f3 B:f3
21...dc3 22.bc3 (22.gf6 cb2 23.e4 c4)
22...Nh5 |
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Jan-13-18
| | patzer2: <diagonalley: ok, but even if you get the first move, the continuation/s seem damn near impenetrable. <diagonalley>: nul points :-(> The best play game continuation 21...dxc3 -+ (-6.17 @ 32 ply, Stockfish 8) is a line I also found difficult. Much easier for me to visualize after 20...d4! 21. f3 was <gofer>'s alternative win 21...Nxf3+ -+ (-3.97 @ 33 ply, Stockfish 8). P.S.: Years ago, a Master friend of mind gave me some good advice: "If you don't see it, don't play it." A corollary is play the win you see, not the promising one you don't see. |
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| Jan-13-18 | | saturn2: 20..d4 threatening Nf3+ seen |
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Jan-13-18
| | transpose: Seems to me 20 ..d4 has to win, and I saw f3 as the best defense for white but after Nxf3+ i assessed the position as winning for black. As others point out, that isn't the best move, and the variations are numerous to see. I guess that is why this puzzle is rated very difficult. |
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| Jan-13-18 | | karik: I went for Kg7 gxf6+ Nf3+ Qxf3 obviously black winning, but there must something wrong... |
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Kibitzing