Black is probably feeling pretty good (for the moment, anyway), as white has a knight hanging (on h6), a bishop hanging (on b2) and a pawn hanging (on d3). The white king is not well protected and black even seems to have better development. In fact, the only thing that white seems to have going is open lines on a weakened black king.

After quickly assessing the position, I'm convinced that white will sacrifice a rook on f6. The only question in my mind is, "Does this sacrifice take place now, on move 24, or a move later after 24 Bxe5 Qxe5?"

The more I look, the more I think it must be now. Let's try it and see...

24 Rxf6+ Bxf6

Obviously black must accept the sacrifice, as after 24...Ke7 25 Rf7+ wins the queen. And taking with the pawn is almost as bad, as after 24...gxf6 25 Qg8+ Ke2 26 Qf7+ Kd6 27 Nf5+ Kc5 28 d4+ Kxd4 (28...Kb5 29 Bf1+ Rd3 30 Bxd3#) 29 Qxf6+ and you win the queen or checkmate black.

25 Bxf6

Black has a decision to make. Take the knight or take the bishop? I'll be honest, I have no idea how this one is going to end, as I'm not even sure which is the best capture at this point.

I'm gonna throw in the towel and check to see how this one ended.

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Now white can't play the desirable 26 Rf1. Furthermore, if white tries 26 Qf5 (seeing Bxd8+, winning the queen), black has another counter in 26...Bxe4.

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Now, if 27 Bxd8+, then 27...Bxd5 28 Bxc7 gxh6 29 Bxb6.

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First, a show of hands please. Who looked at this position and thought: "hmmm - that's Alexander the Great's first major victory at the battle of the river Granicus"?

Ah. Only me, then. It's a curse, I tell you.

It's the Greeks versus the Persians yet again - the ancient world's version of England versus Germany in the world cup this afternoon (COME ON, INGERLUND!).

The Persians have set up their forces in a defensive formation by the river Granicus. They think they have been smart. To get to them, Alexander's Macedonian and Greek army will have to cross the river whilst under fire from spear and slingshot. And this is no cute babbling brook. The Granicus is wide and vicious with strong currents that could sweep a warhorse off its feet. And on the other side, the river bank is steep and slippery with mud.

What's more, Alexander's army is not really in the best shape to fight. They arrive late in the third day of a long march. They are hot, tired and haven't yet made the sacrifices that they normally offer to the gods on the morning of a battle.

Alexander's second in command, the wise Parmenion, advises caution. "We should wait til the morning, sire. The Persians have position and they are fresher than us. Rest the men and we'll attack at dawn. I'll have scouts find a better crossing point somewhere else."

"No, we attack now."

And the rest is slaughter. The Greeks and Macedonians cross the Granicus at great cost - Alexander himself is nearly killed - but they do win, and sweep the Persians aside. It's not exactly a 4-0 rout, but it is most certainly a win on penalties (Please, please, not again!).

Oh yes, the chess .... thanks for reminding me. To echo <dzechiel>, the more you look at this position the more convinced you are that white will sac a rook on f6. Why? Well, the black king is looking vulnerable on f8, the white queen would love the g7 pawn to go away so that we can play Qg8+. The Ra1 is sitting on the substitutes' bench, anxious to get into the game. The bishops, including the KIA Bg2, want the pawns to get out of the way so that they can get into the action. All of white's active forces are focussed on a splodge of the board between g8 and f6.

The Parmenion part of your brain wants to prepare: "Let's pitch the tents, share a cold one, a warm slave or two and do the fighting thang in the morning."

But you are not going to conquer most of the known world with that attitude. So let's rip into the black position with 24. Rxf6+ and however black recaptures we are into a king hunt.

Then the fog of war descends and it all gets very very messy. They say that history is written by the victors, but there is no way that I could predict what happens next. Then again, I bet that Alexander thought exactly the same thing.

Possible moves:

1. Bxe5-Attacks Black's Queen and draws attention away from the knight with intentions of Rxf6+!

Actually that is the only active move I see that has a good line.

Here are my variations:

Variation 1 (Sac not accepted)
24. Bxe5 Qxe5, 25. Rxf6+! Ke7, 26. RxNe6+ QxRe6, 27. Qxg7+ Kd6, 28. Nf5+ Kc5, 29. Qc3+ Kb5, 30. a4#

Variation 2 (Sac accepted(w/ sub variations))
24. Bxe5 Qxe5, 25. Rxf6+! gxRf6, 26. Qg8+ Ke7, 27. Qf7+ Kd6, 28. Nf6+ Kc5 29. d4+! Nxd4 (Rxd4, Rc1+ Kb5, Qxe8 threatening mate on c6 with Queen and Bf1.) 30. Rc1+ Kb5, 31. Qc4#

Material is level. White has more space and open lines. 24. Rxf6+ forcing Bxf6 25 Bxf6 when gxf6? 26 Qg8+ Ke7 27 Qf7+ Kd6 28 Nf5#; (or the same mate 1 move faster if 24...gxf6?). 24...Bxf6 is forced to prevent either mate or loss of the Queen, after 25 Bxf6 25...gxh6 (otherwise White has a Pawn and a strong attack for the exchange) 26 Rf1 and the discovered check is very strong. Too many lines to calculate: 24 Rxf6+ is the pragmatic move I would play in the game. Time to check:
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Until today I have had a pretty good week (5.75/6): today my luck has run out. My sight of the board was wrong since gxf6!? is playable (does NOT lead to immediae mate by 26 Qf7+). But I had missed the better defence 25 Bxf6 Bxd3! proposed by Crafty. Crafty free on-line links to the puzzle position http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-t...

and to the game continuation

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http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-t... After 26 Qxh7+ Crafty continues Kf8: find the win against Crafty (starting 26 Qxh7+ Kf8 27 Qg8+ Ke7 28 Qf7+)? More difficult: is there a win after 25...Bxd3 (first link)?

I saw 24...Rxf6 25. Bxf6 and that 25...Bd3 is better than 25...gxf6.

After 25...Bd3 26. Qf5 Bxe4 27. Bxe4 Qxg3+ 28. Kh1 the position was so complex that I was able to see that white is better, but how to win after lets say 28...g6

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Rybka 3:

(25. Bxe5 fxe5 [25...Qxe5 26. Qg8+ Ke7 27. Qf7+ Kd6 28. Nf5+ Kc5 29. Rc1+ Bc4 [[29...Kb5 30. d4 wins - not 30. Rc4 c6 and i dunno how to win, maybe 31. Qa7 works for a while because of 31...Ra8 32. Ne7 but i certainly can't find a way to move the queen on e5]] 30. Qa7 should win] 26. Qg8+ Ke7 27. Qf7+ Kd6 28. Nf5+ Kc5 29. d4+ exd4 30. Rc1+ Bc4 [30...Kb5 31. Bf1+ d3 32. Qxe8] 31. Bf1 [31. Rxc4+ Kb5 32. Nxd4+ Ka6 [[32...Rxd4 33. a4+ Ka6 34. Qxe8]] 33. Qxc7 Nxc7 34. Nxc6 Rc8 35. b4 but I'm not sure what White can get out this if Black does not fall for simple tricks] 31...b5 seems to screw White [31...d3 [[31...Qxf7 32. Rxc4+ Kb5 33. Rxd4+ Kc5 34. b4+ axb4 35. axb4+ mate]] 32. Qxe8 [[32. Bxd3 [[[32. Rxc4+ Kb5 33. Bxd3 c6]]] 32...Rxd3 33. Rxc4+ Kb5 34. Qxe8 Nd8 still takes some time to win.. and 34...Rxg3+ 35. Nxg3 Qxg3+ and Black may be able to get a perpetual]] 32. Rxc4+ Kb5 33. Bxd3 c5 34. Nd4+ Rxd4 35. Rxd4+ Kc6 36. Qxe8+] and Black wins by escaping)

25...Ke7 26. Qf7+ Kd6 27. Nf5+ (27. Bxe5+ Kxe5 28. Ng5+ Kd6 29. Qxf6 Rf8 probably wins for Black.. running away with 29...Kd7 and 30. Ne5+ Kc8 31. Bh3 might give White something) 27...Kc5 28. d4+ Rxd4 [28...Nxd4 29. Rc1+ Bc4 30. Qxc4+ mate or 29...Kb5 30. Bf1+ mate] 29. Rc1+ Rc4 and White cannot mate) 29. Qxe8 with Rc1+ still threatened

<25. Bxf6 gxh6> 25...gxf6 26. Qg8+ Ke7 27. Qf7+ Kd6 28. e5+ (28. Nf5+ Ke5 29. d4+ Rxd4 30. Qxe8 Rd8 31. Qe7 is a worse endgame) 28...fxe5 (28...Kxe5 29. d4+ Kxd4 30. Qxf6+ is winning) 29. Nf5+ Kc5 30. Rc1+ Bc4 (30...Kb5 31. Qxc7 Qxc7 32. Bxc6+ mate) 31. Rxc4+ Kb5 32. Bxc6+ Ka6 33. Bb5+

I have tried to defend the position colours reversed against Crafty. Starting from <Jim's> final position

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reached by <24.Rxf6+ Bxf6 25.Bxf6 gxf6 Bxd3! 26.Qf5 Bxe4 27.Bxd8+ Bxf5 28.Bxc7 gxh6 29.Bxb6> Crafty suggests as best for both sides 29 ...Bg4 30.Bxa5! (30. Bxc6 is met by 30...Rb8! with good counter-play) Nd4 31.b4 Re5 32.Bc7 Rxh5 33.a4 Ke7 to reach

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Black threatens 24... Bxb2, 24... gxh6, 24... B(R)xd3, 24... Bxg3.

The first idea that comes to mind is 24.Bxe5 Qxe5 25.Rxf6+ but after 25... Qxf6 (25... gxf6 26.Qg8+ Ke7 27.Qxh7+ Ng7 (27... Kd6 28.Nf7+) 28.Qxg7+ Ke6 29.Qf7+ Kd6 30.Nf5+ Kc5 31.Rc1+ and mate soon) 26.Rf1 Qxf1+ 27.Bxf1 gxh6 Black has a decisive material advantage.

Another option is 24.Rxf6+ directly:

A) 24... Bxf6 25.Bxf6

A.1) 25... gxf6 26.Qg8+ Ke7 27.Qf7+ Kd6 28.Nf5+

A.1.a) 28... Kc5 29.d4+ Rxd4 (29... Kb5 30.Bf1#; 29... Nxd4 30.Qxc7 + - [Q vs R]) 30.Qxe8 with multiple threats: 31.Rc1+ Kb5 32.Bf1+, 31.Qxe6, 31.Nxd4, etc.

A.1.b) 28... Ke5 29.d4+ Rxd4 (29... Nxd4 30.Qxc7 + - [Q vs R]) 30.Qxe8, threatening 31.Nxd4 and 31.Nh6 followed by 32.Nf7+ of 32.Ng4+, resuming the attack against the black king.

A.2) 25... gxh6 26.Rf1

A.2.a) 26... Bxd3 27.Bxd8+ Bxf1 28.Bxc7 Bxg2 29.Kxg2 + - [Q+B vs R+N].

A.2.b) 26... Rd7 27.Bd8+ Rf7 28.Bxc7 Rxf1+ (28... Nxc7 29.Rxf7+ Kxf7 30.Qf4+ and 31.Qxc7 [Q vs R]) 29.Bxf1 Nxc7 30.Qf4+ and 31.Qxc7 + - [Q vs R].

A.2.c) 26... Qd7 27.Bxd8+ Qf7 28.Rxf7+ + - [Q+B vs R+N].

B) 24... gxf6 25.Qg8+ Ke7 27.Qf7+ Kd6 28.Nf5+ Kc5 29.d4+ (29... Kb5 30.Bf1#; 29... Nxd4 30.Qxc7 + - [Q vs R]; 29... Rxd4 30.Qxe8 looks similar to the main line) Bxd4+ 30.Bxd4+ Rxd4 31.Qxe8 transposes to A.1.a.