| Feb-10-18 | | patzer2: Like the Peanuts cartoon character Linus holding on to his security blanket, I didn't dare give up the security of a pawn near the White King in solving today's Saturday (26. ?) puzzle. So instead of going for the bold winning shot 26. g4! +- (+2.38 @ 28 ply, Stockfish 8), I played it too safe with 26. Nxf5 exf5 ⩲ (+0.52 @ 28 ply, Stockfish 8) P.S.: For an improvement for the losing side, instead of 17...h5 18. Rac1 ⩲ to = (+0.22 @ 35 ply, Stockfish 8) Black can apparently do better by repositioning his most active piece with 17...N5b6 = (0.00 @ 36 ply, Stockfish 8). After 17...N5b6, Stockfish 8 indicates play might go 18.h5 Nc4 19.hxg6 hxg6 20.Bf4 Nxb2 21.Ng5 Nc4 22.Qg4 Ndxe5 23.Qh4 Rfe8 24.Re2 Rad8 25.Rae1 Rd5 26.Be4 Rd7 27.Bc2 Rd5 = (0.00 @ 30 ply) when White has nothing better than a draw by repetition. |
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| Feb-10-18 | | wtpy: I went with g4 seeing in general terms how white's dark squared bishop hemmed in the black king so that a subsequent exchange then sac on f5 combined with open g file and advance of the h pawn was the way to proceed,but was uncertain how black would defend so didnt work out a lot of concrete lines. (Kh7 did not cross my mind as defense--I thought maybe Nd3.) Is that a solution? If it is, it is an unsatisfactory one. |
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Feb-10-18
 | | Richard Taylor: I saw g4 but it didn't look very dramatic so I tried to play Bxf5 exf6 e6 and got too complicated trying to calculate it all even with a Q sac...none of which is sound. Once I saw the move g4 certainly looked the most logical. It is the first step in breaking down the pawns on the King side. Interesting finish to the game. |
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| Feb-10-18 | | mel gibson: I saw that within 5 seconds.
Stockfish 8 says:
26. g4 (26. g4
(g2-g4 h5xg4 ♕e2xg4 ♘c5-d3 ♗c2xd3 c4xd3 ♖d1xd3 ♖e8-c8 h4-h5 b5-b4 ♗g5-f6
♘f5xd4 ♖d3xd4 b4xc3 b2xc3 ♗g7xf6 e5xf6 ♖c8xc3 h5xg6 f7xg6 ♕g4xg6+ ♔g8-h8
f6-f7 ♕b7-b2+ ♔h2-g1 ♖c3-g3+ ♕g6xg3 ♕b2xd4+ ♔g1-h2 ♕d4-g7 ♕g3-h3+ ♕g7-h7
♕h3xh7+ ♔h8xh7 f4-f5 e6-e5 ♖e1xe5) +2.26/28 51) score for White +2.26 depth 28 |
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| Feb-10-18 | | malt: I have gone for 26.g4 N:d4 27.R:d4
(27.cd4 [Looking at 28.Be4,]27...Nd3 28.B:d3 cd3 29.R:d3)27...hg4 (27...Nd3)28.Q:g4 Nb3 29.h4! N:d4 30.cd4 gh5 31.Q:h5 Qd5 32.Qh7+ Kf8 33.Bf6 |
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| Feb-10-18 | | saturn2: The first 2 moves are not hard to immagine. But then there are too many possibilities for me. |
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| Feb-10-18 | | wooden nickel: I didn't get far with the line 26.Bxf5 exf5 27.Nxf5 gxf5 28.Qxh5 Ne6 attempting to mate on g7
but after 29.Bf6, White has to be beware of 29... Qxg2+ 30.Kxg2 Nxf4+
click for larger view |
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Feb-10-18
 | | Breunor: Like Saturn2 found the first 2 moves, and then planned h5. I thought 27 ..Kh7 made it easier for white, since I thought the idea was to open the g and or h files. Stockfish agrees, giving 27 ...Nd3 as the better move, Kh7 moves to about 2.9 for white. |
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| Feb-10-18 | | agb2002: White has the bishop pair for a bishop and a knight. White can open the black castle with 26.Nxf5 exf5 27.Bxf5 gxf5 (else drop a pawn) 28.Qxh5. However, after 28... Ne4 (to control f6) 29.Rxe4 Qxe4 30.Rd7 Rf8 White can't play e6 (Qxe6) nor Bf6 (Qxf4+). A better option is 26.g4 with the idea gxh5 or h5, etc., but this looks like a typical step by step attack rather than a direct combination. |
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| Feb-12-18 | | njchess: I figured ♘xf5 followed by ♗xf5 would be part of the sequence somewhere. Initially, I had 26. ♘xf5 exf5 27. ♗xf5 gxf5 28. ♕xh5 but that left the queen on the h-file and it needed to be on the g-file to threaten the king. I then saw 26. g4! hxg4 27. ♕xg4 which seemed reasonable, but I couldn't predict Black's response. I finally decided that Black didn't have much of a response beyond ♔h7 or ♖d8, which would still allow for 28. ♘xf5 exf5 29. ♗xf5 gxf5 30. ♕h5+ ♔g8 31. ♗f6 [Δ 32. ♖g1] +- |
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Kibitzing
sac: 29.Bxf5