Sep-29-16
 | | Phony Benoni: First thought is to sac the queen and see if the rook can organize a mating net. So 39.Qxf6+ Rxf6 40.Rd8+ Kg7 ... that's not going anywhere. Maybe 39.Qxg5? No, that rook on d1 is hanging with check and we need to provide that. But where can e move the rook to compensate for a queen? Let's look at <39.Rd8 fxe5 40.Rdxf8+ Kg7 41.R3f7+ Kh6 42.Rh8#> That seems to be on the right track. 39.Rd8 Rxd8 40.Qxf6+ has to be good. White will surely win the rook and have Q+R attacking a bare king. Meanwhile threats are 40.Rxf8+ or 40.Qxf6+, and if the king moves up than 40.Qe7+ gets into the same sort of thing. |
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| Sep-29-16 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: I solved it with about the same level of precision as <Phony Benoni> :) |
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| Sep-29-16 | | dfcx: black's queen and bishop are too far to defend the king. White takes out the last defender with 39.Rd8
A. 39...Rxd8 40.Qxf6+ Kh7 (Kg8 41.Qxd8+ similar and faster) 41.Qe7+ Kh6 42.Qe6+ Kh7 43.Rf7+ Kg8 44.Qg6+ Kh8 45.Qg7# B. 39...fxe5 40.Rdxf8+ Kg7/Kh7 41.R3f7+ Kh6 42.Rh8# C. 39...Qd1+ 40.Rxd1 fxe5 41.Rxd8+ wins |
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| Sep-29-16 | | agb2002: White has a rook for a bishop and two pawns.
Black threatens fxe5 and Qxd1.
The only move seems to be 39.Rd8:
A) 39... fxe5 40.Rdxf8+ Kg(h)7 41.R3f7+ Kh6 42.Rh8#. B) 39... Rxd8 40.Qxf6+ (40.Rxf6 Qd1+ 41.Kg2 Qd5+ 42.Qxd5 Rxd5 43.Rxb6 c4 - + [B]) B.1) 40... Kh7 41.Qe7+
B.1.a) 41... Kh6 42.Qe6+ Kg(h)7 (42... Kxh6 43.Rh6#) 43.Rf7+ and mate in two. B.1.b) 41... Kg(h)8 42.Qxd8+ Kg(h)7 43.Qe7+ Kh6 (43... Kg(h)8 44.Rf7#) 44.Qe6+ and mate in three as above. B.2) 40... Kg8 41.Qxd8+ transposes to B.1.b.
C) 39... c4 40.Qxf6+ Kg8(h7) 41.Qg6+ Kh8 42.Qh6+ Kg8 43.Rd(f)xf8+ Bxf8 44.Rf(d)xf8#. D) 39... Kg7 40.Qe7+
D.1) 40... Rf7 41.h6+ Kg6 (else 42.Qxf7 wins) 42.Rg8+ wins. D.2) 40... Kg8 41.Rxf8#.
D.3) 40... Kh6 41.Qxf8+ wins.
E) 39... Kg8 40.Rxf8+ Kxf8 41.Rxf6+ Kg7(8) 42.Qxg5+ and mate next. F) 39... Qd1+ 40.Rxd1 fxe5 41.Rxf8+ + - [2R vs B+2P]. G) 39... Rg8 40.Qxf6+ Kh7 41.Qf5+ and mate soon. |
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| Sep-29-16 | | YouRang: Thursday 39.?
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Well, I thought I was onto something with <39.Qd6>
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I've gotten by queen out of take, I'm attacking black's Rf8, and I have a double attack on the Pf6. I confirmed that all efforts to save the rook fail, e.g. - 39...Rf7 40.Rxf6 Qd7 and white should win with Q+R+P vs exposed K+R. - 39...Kg7 40.h6+ and black can't stop pawn and save R. I plugged this line into the computer, and it confirmed that my 39.Qd6 idea was great -- unless black finds <39...c4!>.
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A silly oversight. Now black guards the Rf8 right through my queen AND he's threatening to promote pawn. The best I can do now is <40.Qd5 c3 41.h6 c2 42.Rc1>
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White is still better, and maybe can still win, but it's *much* tougher than the <39.Rd8!> line. |
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Sep-29-16
 | | scormus: interesting puzzle. I went through all the same thought processes as the others before, only finding 39 Rd8 using the Holmes method ;) |
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| Sep-29-16 | | Boerboel Guy: Easy for a Thursday puzzle. |
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| Sep-29-16 | | AlicesKnight: I saw 39.Rd8 and the basic lines. The pawn-grab 30.... Qa4 denudes the K-side defence. |
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Sep-29-16
 | | Richard Taylor: Rd8 was a nice idea with a mate coming up. It was relatively easy as after the R on d8 is taken White has about 20,000 ways to checkmate Black. Well I'll probably leave the more difficult ones. The key here is to get the King! <YouRang> I've done that. You get diverted by what looks like interesting ideas and forget to go back and check the others...Easily done, in fact in more "normal" positions I do it a lot... I played in two simuls Ganguly gave (here in NZ). Two interesting games although he won them both. The trouble with simuls is that as the players start to lose you have to move more quickly (it is not the done thing to sit calculating too long). But he is clearly a strong GM. |
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| Sep-29-16 | | Pawn Slayer: Sometimes you can look for hours and not see the solution, but 39 Rd8 leapt at me immediately. Two minutes analysis showed mate in all variations or decisive material gain. But the secret of winning games from positions like this is to get into them in the first place. That's my problem! |
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| Sep-29-16 | | schachfuchs: 41.Qg6+ Kh8 is good enough but isn't 41.Qe7+ Kh6 42.Qe6+ the shorter way to mate? |
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| Sep-29-16 | | mel gibson: It should have been a Monday puzzle -
it was easy. |
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| Sep-29-16 | | patzer2: For today's Thursday puzzle, like <Pawn Slayer> I immediately went for 41...Rd8 as if it were blitz or bullet Chess. As noted by <dfcx> and <agb2002>, The two most immediate threats created by 41...Rd8 are mate-in-three after the capture of the Queen with 39...fxe5 40.Rdxf8+ Kg7/Kh7 41.R3f7+ Kh6 42.Rh8# and a bit longer mate after the capture of the Rook with 39...Rxd8 40.Qxf6+ Kh7 (Kg8 41.Qxd8+ similar and faster) 41.Qe7+ Kh6 42.Qe6+ Kh7 43.Rf7+ Kg8 44.Qg6+ Kh8 45.Qg7#. Apparently, Black's decisive mistake was the pawn grab 30...Qxa4? allowing the surprise winning move 31. f5!  . The computers confirm White is clearly winning after <31. f5! Re8> 31... Rc8 32. fxg6 hxg6 33. Rf3 Rf8 (33... Qe8 34. Qc4 Kg7 35. Rd6 Qe7 36. Qd5 Rf8 37. Rd7 Qe8 38. Re3 (+6.29 @ 20 depth, Deep Fritz 15) 34. Rg3 (+3.06 @ 30 depth Komodo 10) <32. Rf3! Rf8 33.fxg6 > (+4.42 @ 32 depth, Komodo 9.42). Instead of 30...Qxa4?, allowing 31. f5! , Black can put up stiffer resistance with 30...Rc8 31. Qd7 Qxd7  (0.45 @ 33 depth, Stockfish 7) when play might continue 32. Rxd7 c4 33. Rb2 c3 34. Rc2 Kg7 35. e3 Rc4 36. Rd4 Rc5 = to (0.29 @ 23 depth, Deep Fritz 15). For an earlier Black improvement, instead of the pawn grab 19...Bxb2, allowing 20. Rb1 Bf5 21. Qd5 = to (0.47 @ 30 depth, Komodo 9.4), the computers suggest more active piece play with 19...Bf5 = when play might go 19...Bf5 20. Qd5 Re8 = (0.00 @ 28 depth, Stockfish 7). Even earlier, instead of 10...Na6 potentially allowing 11. Nd2 = to (eyeing Nc4 ), the computer suggestion 10...Ne4 11. Nxe4 Rxe4 12. Nd2 Rb4! = (0.23 @ 30 depth, Komodo 10 64 bit) might be slightly better for Black. P.S.: Perhaps (31. ?) would make for a good Saturday or Sunday puzzle. |
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| Sep-29-16 | | kevin86: Easier than usual for a Thursday. White offers pieces but black can't take them! |
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Sep-29-16
 | | Jimfromprovidence: Side puzzle:
click for larger view 1). If the h pawn is on h4 instead of h5 as in the above diagram, can white still play 39 Rd8 and win? 2). If not, is there another way for white to win? |
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| Sep-29-16 | | patzer2: <Jimfromprovidence> Side puzzle solution: Qd5 threatening hxg5 . |
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| Sep-29-16 | | beenthere240: After 42. ...Kh8 I was expecting 43. Rf7 threatening mate on h7 and was confused by the game continuation of 43. Qh6+ and 44 Qxg5+. Then I noticed this eliminates desperation moves from black like Qd1+ or Rd1+ etc by gobbling up Black's rook. That's one way to compel resignation from an opponent. Let the air out of his tires. |
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Sep-29-16
 | | gawain: Interesting variations to look at. I got the first moves and the basic idea. Pretty good for me on a Thursday. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 39.Rd8