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| Dec-15-05 | | paladin at large: This is a tense and entertaining battle. Portisch's knight goes inefficiently to h5 where he is stuck for a long time and Portisch never solves the weakness of his c-pawn. However, overall Portisch played pretty well, according to my modest lights. This is an impressive display by Smyslov. The exchange of rooks leads to 34.....Qe5, an offer to exchange queens which Portisch must decline. On the surface, Portisch would enter the endgame with a protected passed pawn but, his c-pawn would fall prey to Smyslov's knight(s). Smyslov thereafter penetrates with his queen and sets up lasting pressure, at the same time barely maintaining his own king's safety. The finishing knight sac is pretty. |
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Mar-24-10
 | | Honza Cervenka: Looking at position after white's 41st move I would say that white is already lost. Pc4 + Pd5 make white LSB quite bad piece. Nh5 is another great positional liability of white. And Smyslov exploited this positional advantage... well ... like Smyslov.:-D Pretty and instructive game. |
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| Mar-31-10 | | ounos: Still sad with the loss of Vasily. Btw I mistakenly went for 64. ...Qxg4+ (Kf2 Qd4+), winning but not precise. |
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| Mar-31-10 | | Slurpeeman: got it immediately. Easier than yesterday's IMO |
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Mar-31-10
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Watching the slow disintegration of Portisch's game is like watching sugar dissolve in water. You can see that something is happening, but you don't know what and you don't know why. |
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| Mar-31-10 | | stacase: Threatening mate is such a great move, and you don't have to say check (-: So 62...Nxg4 and White is forced to take the knight allowing 63...Qh4+ and the rest is very straight forward. |
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Mar-31-10
 | | gawain: A nice finish. I saw that 62...Nxg4 followed by 63...Qh4+ must be the start of the solution but I did not see the best part. Erroneously thought that 64...f2+ would win. Of course it loses instead.) 64...Qg3+ and 65...f2 are beautiful because Black now threatens mate at g1 but if the Bishop moves Smyslov will win in some other way 66 Bd3 (or Be2) Qh3# or 66 Bg2 Qh4+ 67 Bh3 Qxh3# |
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| Mar-31-10 | | SuperPatzer77: We all miss Vasily Smyslov very sorely. I'm so shocked to hear about his death. White resigns in lieu of 66. Bg2 Qh4+, 67. Bh3 Qxh3# 0-1. If the White bishop leaves the f1-h3 diagonal, it would be Qh3#. Thus, White has no defense against the inevitable checkmate by threatening Qg1#. Rest in peace, Smyslov.
SuperPatzer77 |
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| Mar-31-10 | | goldfarbdj: At first glance this seems to be a fairly balanced position. Both kings are exposed, but neither side has much mobility. Nothing screams out to be played. The black knight on d7 is tied down keeping the white queen out of b8, while the white bishop is tied down keeping the black queen off of g2, and the white queen is tied to the bishop. Is there some way of distracting that bishop? The only thing that looks remotely like a distracting move is Nd3, but white just takes the knight with the queen, so that doesn't work. We can open a line against the white king with Nxg4. The knight can't be refused, because Qh2 mate is a threat. After hxg4 Qh4+, then Kf1...what then? Maybe a pawn check? f2+ Kg2 and there's no followup. Qxg4+ Kxf2 and the king runs away. This still looks like the only line that is remotely tactical, so I'm going to look at it some more. What about 62 ... Nxg4 63 hxg4 Qh4+ 64 Kg1 Qxg4? 65 Kf2 and I still don't see anything. We could check on g3. 64 ... Qg3+ 65 Kh1. Aha, now we're getting somewhere: 65 ... f2 with a threat of Qg1 mate. Could the bishop move away to let the queen guard the mate? The bishop has to guard h3, or Qh3 will be mate, so the only move would be Bg2. But now g1 and g2 are both covered, so we can check on h4 again with mate next move. That's got it! |
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| Mar-31-10 | | Sacsacmate: .....Nxg4
hxg4 Qh5+
Kg1 Qg3+
Kh1 f2!
Bg2 Qh5+ (If bishop leaves f1-Bh3 etc digonal..mate through h3)May his soul rest in peace |
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| Mar-31-10 | | zooter: Ok, this is tough but I may have got it...
63...Nxg4 (threatens Qh2#) 64.hxg4 Qh5+ 65.Kg1 (Notice that a 64.Ne6+ would have lost to 65...Qxg4+ with black winning 2 pawns) f2+ 66.Kg2 I'm not sure how the attack proceeds from here
Time for me to give up and check the game score |
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| Mar-31-10 | | zooter: Ok, a patzer like early f2+ spoils the win for me... Good learning though |
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| Mar-31-10 | | Jim Bartle: In this game and others by Smyslov I've seen, he doesn't seem to crush his opponent. He just defeats them quietly and efficiently. (Not all games of course, thinking of the Liberzon game.) A couple of baseball pitchers were something like that, Catfish Hunter and Greg Maddux. They didn't scare batters like Ryan or Clemens, just got them out with location and movement. |
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| Mar-31-10 | | dzechiel: Black to move (62...?). Material even. "Medium/Easy." This is payback for last week, the positions seem considerably more difficult than they did a week ago. I have looked around quite a bit, and I see a combination that is fairly forcing and seems to do the trick. Let's see if it still looks good when written out as chess moves... 62...Nxg4
As this has the real threat of 63...Qh2#, white can hardly ignore this capture. 63 hxg4 Qh4+ 64 Kg1
Tossing the bishop with 64 Bh3+ is counterproductive as 64...Qxh3+ 65 Kg1 Qg2# ends the game suddenly for white. 64...Qg3+ 65 Kh1
and now the hard to find move...
65...f2!
with the threat of 66...Qg1#.
66 Bg2
White can throw in a check with the knight, but it won't change the outcome. 66...Qh4+ 67 Bh3
The only move.
67...Qxh3#
Time to check and see when white resigned. |
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| Mar-31-10 | | Once: An enjoyable little sequence where Smyslov carefully nudges his small army into place for a mating attack. 62....Nxg4 (Threatens Qh2#, so has to be taken)
63. gxh4 Qh4+ (Black wants his queen on g3, but the immediate 63. Qg3 doesn't come with check, so white has time for a defensive move like Qc2) 64. Kg1 Qg3+ (as advertised)
65. Kh1 f2
click for larger viewThe threat is Qg1#. White has to move the bishop, but where? 66. Bd2 or Be3 allow Qh3#. Or there is 66. Bh3 Qxh3#. The longest line is 66. Bg2 Qh4+ 67. Bh3 Qxh3# The f pawn does a great job of sealing off escape squares that
the white king desparately needs. |
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| Mar-31-10 | | A Karpov Fan: got it |
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Mar-31-10
 | | scormus: Another Smyslov special. It was a relief to see W had only one harmless check, not like monday, so B can play a non-checking move. 62... Nxg4 threatens # so hxg4 is forced (now or after 63 Ne6+ Kc8). If 63 hxg4 Qh4+ 64 Kg1 At first I thought it was another one like monday where B couldnt force #, so 64... Qxg4+ and B soon picks up the loose N with a K,N fork, but that is not very decisive. Instead 64... Qg3+ completes the combination. 65 Kh1 f2 (the move I didnt see at first). Threatening 66... Qg1# and W still has nothing after 66 Ne6+ Kc8. If 67 Bg2 Qh4+ 68 Bh3 Qxh3#. If B moves anywhere else 67... Qh3#. Now check |
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| Mar-31-10 | | TheaN: Wednesday 31 March 2010
<62....?>
Target: 2:10;000
Taken: 2:05;125
Material: White up minor piece exchange, ♗+♘ / 2♘
Candidates: Qg2†, <[Nxg4]> -ML-
It is obvious Black is willing to press the attack on the White King, but he has to check where and how a sacrifice is in order, and if he is defending his own King correctly. The sac is here and now, and yes, he is defending correctly. After: <62....Nxg4!> White goes into a series of moves to avoid mate, but he can't. Black is threatening Qh2‡ and White is forced to take. Take note that in any point in the sequence, Ne6† Kc8 will not get Black closer to perpetual. Neither does a protection on the second rank work, as the White Queen would be undefended. So: <63.hxg4 Qh4† 64.Kg1> obviously, 64.Bh3 Qxh3† 65.Kg1 Qg2‡ 0-1. <64....Qg3† 65.Kh1> and now the starting position has only changed slightly, but Black can play the KO move: <65....f2> threatening mate on g1. <66.Bg2 Qh4†> leads to mate as now g2 is occupied by the Bishop and g1 is covered by the f2-pawn. <67.Bh3 Qxh3‡ 0-1> time to check where White let this go to. |
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Mar-31-10
 | | FSR: Hmm, I thought of 62...Nxg4, but somehow missed the follow-up. The move I chose was 62...Nxc4 threatening ...Nd2 or ...Ne3. White looks helpless, e.g. 63.Ne6+ Kc8, or 63.Bxc4 Qg2#. |
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| Mar-31-10 | | gofer: White is in trouble. There is no clear way for bishop or queen to move without being mated,
so both pieces are stuck!
63 Be2/Bd3/Bg2 Qg2#
63 Qb7 Qxf1+ 64 Kh2 Qg2#
But what about Ne6+ does this threat go anywhere???
63 Ne6+ Kc8 (not Ke8 Nc7+) and black is safe.
So white seems to have nothing much, but what about black?! Well while Qf2 and Nd7 are holding the fort
Ne4 is free to do pretty much anything it likes - including being taken! 62 ... Nxg5 (threatening Qh2#)
63 hxg4 Qh4+
64 Kg1 Qg3+
(not 64 ... Qxg4+ gaining another pawn as there is a mate to be had!!!!) 65 Kh1 f2 (threatening Qg1#)
66 Bg2 Qh4+
67 Bh3 Qxh3#
So white is dead, but I think white has been dead for a while and perhaps just didn't want to admit it! Time to check... |
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Mar-31-10
 | | tarek1: Here both sides seem to have an attack on the opponent's king
But
1.White has no useful check and no threats
2.It's black's move.
Although the queen and pawn are dangerously close to the white king, there is no check.
In order to open some lines and make the attack progress, some wood must be given up. <62...Nxg4 !!>
This sacrifice threatens Qh2#. The insertion of Ne6+ Kc8 may or may not be useful for White, but in any case <63.hxg4> is forced. <63...Qh4+ 64.Kg1> and now the tempting f2+ would be a mistake since Kg2 Qxg4+ Kxf2 leads at best to perpetual check. <64...Qg3+!> forcing the king to return to the corner before advancing the pawn <65.Kh1 f2!>
The g1 square is no longer available to the king.
Now Qg1# is threatened. To protect g1, white has to move the bishop,
but if it leaves the f1-h3 diagonal, for example <66.Be2> then <66...Qh3#>.
And h3 is of course forbidden.
To sum up, the bishop has to stay on f1-h3, but cannot stay on f1 and cannot go to h3.
The only remaining square is g2. Therefore
<66.Bg2> is the only move (once again Ne6+ Kc8 is an irrelevant insertion)
but an unfortunate side-effect is that now the g2 square is no longer available
for the king.
<66...Qh4+> puts the final nail in the coffin <67.Bh3 Qxh3#> |
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| Mar-31-10 | | gofer: I was right! White had been dead for a long time and just didn't want to admit it! By move 50 black is already a piece up and is just manoeuvering his queen into a better position to give the mating sequence in today's puzzle and once the queen is in place he just has to get his king to safety and its all over. So this takes a while, but I imagine black had the winning line in mind 15 moves earlier! |
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| Mar-31-10 | | turbo231: No one got yesterdays puzzle right, not even Rybka or Chessmaster and 4 or 5 other chess engines. I beat Rybka, Chessmaster, about 5 other chess engines with black all but Fruit 2.3.1. Fruit mated me twice. Everybody interposed with the white Queen, Fruit interposed the bishop at c2 that stopped the rook and the black queen. The rook took the bishop, the king moved to e1 and that stopped everything. You have to see it to believe it. The bishop at h2 blocked g1 the queen had no place to go. I gave Fruit white vs Rybka after 70 moves more it ended up a 3 fold draw. Only Fruit 2.3.1 solved the puzzle. |
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| Mar-31-10 | | badest: Isn't Nxc4 also winning ... in just a few more moves? |
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| Mar-31-10 | | chinaski: badest: Isn't Nxc4 also winning ... in just a few more moves? i dont think so.
63.Ne6+ Kc8
64.Qd3 Nxd6
65.Qa6+ |
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sac: 62...Nxg4