Mar-19-17
 | | Domdaniel: Seven (!!) pawns for a Knight ... incredible. |
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| Mar-23-17 | | PizzatheHut: Could someone help me understand 19. Bc3? I'm trying to figure out why white can't play his same idea immediately, 19. Rc2. |
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Mar-23-17
 | | tamar: I think the idea of 19 Bc3 is to have an attack on a5 while the Queen obstructs the b pawn, so Nb3 later will make defense awkward. Black sidesteps everything with 19...Qa7, but the Queen loses mobility on that square 19 Bc3 looks like more of a probing move than a winning one. |
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| Mar-23-17 | | PizzatheHut: <tamar> Appreciate the reply, and agree that it's a probing move (and a good one at that). |
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| Sep-01-18 | | Walter Glattke: If 27.-gxh5, then 28.Qg5+ Kf8 29.Qxd8
55.Qd5 1-0 mate in "100". |
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| Sep-01-18 | | diagonalley: <Domdaniel> ... my reaction exactly |
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Sep-01-18
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Analyzed 27...Nxa4; 28.Qg5,Rd7; 29.Bxg6 and decided the sacrifice was still worthwhile, but 28.Ra2 also looked good. |
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| Sep-01-18 | | patzer2: For today's Saturday puzzle, my pick was 27. Qg4 +- (+2.04 @ 39 ply, Stockfish 9) which, as the second best move, is almost as strong as the game continuation 27. Bxh5! +- (+2.41 @ 39 ply, Stockfish 9). Both moves (27. Bxh5 +- and 27. Qg4 +-) involve the same general idea, which is to trade a Knight for at least four Pawns and simplify to a won Pawn versus Knight endgame. Black's losing move was 26...Nb6? allowing 27. Bxh5! +- (+2.41 @ 39 ply, Stockfish 9). Instead, 26...Qb6 27. Qg5 Re8 28. Bxh5 Qd8 29. Qxd8 Rxd8 30. Bg4 ± (+1.00 @ 35 ply, Stockfish 9) minimizes the damage to the loss of only a single pawn for Black. Earlier, instead of 24...Nf5 25. Nb3 Nd6?! 26. Qc1 ± (+0.81 @ 38 ply, Stockfish 9), Black could have kept the game level with 24...Qb8 = (+0.12 @ 34 ply, Stockfish 9) or 25...b6 = (+0.20 @ 36 ply, Stockfish 9). |
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| Sep-01-18 | | agb2002: White has a bishop for a knight.
Black threatens Nxa4.
The black rook is defenseless, the black castle has several holes and the black queen is out of play momentarily. These details suggest 27.Bxh5. For example, 27... Nxa4 (27... gxh5 28.Qg5+ + -) 28.Bxg6 fxg6 29.Qg5 Rc8 (29... Nf7 30.Qxg6+ Kf8 31.Rc7 + -) 30.Qxg6+ Kf8 31.Qf6+ Kg8 32.Qxe6+ Kg7 33.Rxc8 Nxc8 34.Qxc8 wins decisive material. I can't spend more time on the puzzle today. |
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| Sep-01-18 | | Mayankk: I saw 27 Bxh5+ and the impending Queen fork at g4 should Black accept the sham sacrifice. However there seemed to be multiple options for Black to decline the sacrifice and I also didn’t see the power of Bxg6 followed by a Queen fork at e3. But the first move can be played without doing all the calculations since it’s not really a sacrifice but more a pawn capture. White should gain a strong position in all variations. |
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| Sep-01-18 | | AlicesKnight: <Mayankk> Well put - that's where I got to also. |
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| Sep-01-18 | | malt: Looked at 27.B:h5 N:a4,
but went for
27.Qg5 Re8 28.B:h5 N:a4 29.Qf4 |
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| Sep-01-18 | | GlennOliver: 29. ... Ndc8 yields slightly more defensive options for Black, but only delays the destruction of Black's uncoordinated position. |
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| Sep-01-18 | | saturn2: I went for 27 Bxh5 Nxa4 28 Bxg6 fxB 29 Qg4
White has sacrificed a bishop for two pawns bit can scoop up more pawns.
I the gameline I would have expected 33 Ne6+ |
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| Sep-01-18 | | mel gibson: It's so obvious when you're shown the answer.
The Bishop gets a free pawn & Black can't take the Bishop
or he'll be forked on g5. |
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| Sep-01-18 | | landshark: Looks like White has a free pawn in 27.Bxh5 since a Black recapture loses a rook to 28.Qg5+. In a real game I'd play that fairly quickly since B doesn't appear to have any real counterchances - |
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| Sep-01-18 | | thegoodanarchist: I am angry at myself for not getting this one. I saw the loose rook, undefended and vulnerable to attack by Qg5. And I thought about sacrificing the Bishop for a pawn... But it was the wrong pawn! I didn't note that the h-pawn was "unguarded" by the g6 pawn, because of the potential for the double attack with check. Drat. I should have solved this one, but gave up too early. |
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| Sep-01-18 | | mel gibson: < thegoodanarchist: I am angry at myself for not getting this one. I saw the loose rook, undefended and vulnerable to attack by Qg5. And I thought about sacrificing the Bishop for a pawn... But it was the wrong pawn! I didn't note that the h-pawn was "unguarded" by the g6 pawn, because of the potential for the double attack with check. Drat. I should have solved this one, but gave up too early.> I am furious too -
unless you can see the moves like that you can't play top chess.
I will be forever at about 1700 level.
I can easily beat level 10 Chess Titans on my i7 Quad core but that is only at about a rating of 1700. Stockfish 9 saw the correct move in only 1 second. |
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| Sep-01-18 | | OrangeTulip: Zen and the Art of giving up |
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| Sep-01-18 | | whiteshark: White collects <♙♙♙♙♙♙♙> like ripe fruits. Kinda ♘ settlement payment. |
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| Sep-01-18 | | cormier: patzer2:
<Black's losing move was 26...Nb6?> allowing 27. Bxh5! +- (+2.41 39 ply, Stockfish 9). <<<<Instead, 26...Qb6 27. Qg5 Re8 28. Bxh5 Qd8 29. Qxd8 Rxd8 30. Bg4 ± (+1.00 35 ply, Stockfish 9) minimizes the damage to the loss of only a single pawn for Black.>Earlier, instead of 24...Nf5 25. Nb3 Nd6?! 26. Qc1 ± (+0.81 38 ply, Stockfish 9)> , Black could have kept the game level with 24...Qb8 = (+0.12 34 ply, Stockfish 9)> or 25...b6 = (+0.20 36 ply, Stockfish 9).> |
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| Sep-03-18 | | mel gibson: Easy one - it took me about 15 seconds
to confirm the move in my mind. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 28.Bxg6