| Jan-14-06 | | notyetagm: The position after 23 ♕g5? is The Times Winning Move puzzle for Friday, January 13. GM Keene writes that White was hoping for 23 ... fxe4 24 ♕xe5+ and then 25 ♕xf4. Instead Ponomariov sees that the White g2-pawn is <overworked>, having to break the alignment of the White king and queen along the g-file to prevent a ... ♖g8 pin while it also must meet the threat of the royal fork ... ♘h3+ by defending the h3-square. Two threats, one defender, not good. So Ponomariov simply deflects the overworked g2-pawn from breaking the aligment along the g-file with 23 ... ♘h3+! 24 gxh3 and then pins and wins the White queen with 24 ... ♖g8, forcing White's resignation. |
|
| Mar-12-11 | | kdogphs: Rg8!! We call this a skewer kids!!! |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | Brenin: 23 ... Nh3+ nets the Q, by fork (24 Kh1/f1 Nxg5) or pin (24 gxh3 Rg8). |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | Whitehat1963: Easier than the Monday puzzle. |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | mel gibson: Fairly easy as long as you saw
the threat of White making a check on f6 with its Queen.Stockfish 14 says:
23... Nh3+
(23. .. Nh3+ (♘f4-h3+
g2xh3 ♖f8-g8 ♕g5xg8+ ♖d8xg8+ ♘e4-g3 f7-f6 d3-d4 e5-e4 d4-d5 ♕b7xd5 ♖a1-d1
♕d5xa2 ♖d1-d2 f5-f4 ♔g1-h1 f6-f5 ♖e1-d1 e4-e3 ♖d2-d8 ♖g8xd8 ♖d1xd8+ ♔h8-g7
f2xe3 f4-f3 ♔h1-g1 ♕a2xb2 ♘g3xf5+ ♔g7-f7 ♘f5-h4 ♕b2-e2 ♘h4xf3 ♕e2xf3 ♖d8-d2
♕f3xe3+ ♖d2-f2+ ♕e3xf2+ ♔g1xf2 a6-a5 ♔f2-e2 ♔f7-f6 h3-h4 ♔f6-g6 ♔e2-d3
♔g6-h5 c3-c4 b5xc4+ ♔d3xc4 ♔h5xh4) +6.41/34 343) score for Black +6.41 depth 34. |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | saturn2: Black has to avoid queen checks on f6. 23....Nh3+ works yielding Q for R+N. The material advantage in itself is not so big, but in this position it is a win. |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | agb2002: After 23... fxe4 24.Qxe5+ f6 25.Qxf4 exd3 Black has not achieved much. However, the knight so close to White's royal family and the semi-open g-file lead to 23... Nh6+ 24.gxh6 Rg8, winning decisive material (25.Qxg8+ Rxg8+ 26.Ng3 f4). |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | saturn2: <agb2002 23... Nh6+ 24.gxh6 Rg8, winning decisive material (25.Qxg8+ Rxg8+ 26.Ng3 f4).> I think White can avoid losing the knight by
25.Kf1Rxg5 26.Nxg5 |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | saturn2: No 26....h6 traps. |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | AlicesKnight: Once I saw it was Black to play (wake up, man) ... then - Nh3+ opens the g-file for the pin of White's Q. |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | Brenin: <saturn2>: 26 ... f6, protecting the P on e5, is slightly better than 26 ... h6 for trapping the N (27 Ne6 Rd6 28 Nf8 Qf7, though not 27 ... Re8 28 Nf4), since Black loses only one P, rather than two (27 Nxf7 Qxf7 28 Rxe5). Clearly, either move leads to an easy win. |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | Once: Well, um, maybe. Probably. I guess so.
The easy bit is spotting how to win the queen. A fork, a deflection, a pin = a Tuesday. But then my contrarian nature kicks in. Sure, we've won her wide-hipped majesty but we've spent a knight and a rook to do it. When I was taught how to play this game, her majesty was 8 or 9 points and a rook + knight was 8 points. So an even trade, no? That's when we need to get a bit complicated than your normal Tuesday. Can white defend his knight and claim rough equality with 2R + N vs Q+R? So then I looked for ways to save the knight. My first try was 25. Kf1 but that runs into 25...Rxg5 26. Nxg5 Rg8 (or <Saturn2>'s h6) and the knight has nowhere to run to. The other line is 25. Qxg8+ Rxg8 26. Ng3 where white is forced to move into another g file pin. Black will win the knight with f4. All told, I think we have a Tuesday problem to win the queen and maybe a Wednesday problem to assure ourselves that white can't escape with material equality (more or less). |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | Oxspawn: What <Once> said. If I'd been white I would played on with 25. Qxg8+... especially if I had also been black. |
|
Nov-02-21
 | | Bishoprick: You start by knowing that this is a puzzle, and that the first move has to be a forcing move, preferably a check. The only available check is Nh3, which also happens to fork the white queen.
Not difficult at all. |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | Johnraho: For those who were worried this may not win for Black, look again. after the Queen goes the Knight will fall shortly given Black?s mate threats (ref Q on long diagonal) |
|
Nov-02-21
 | | chrisowen: Cushty ooh i arrive Nh3+ hocum aorta its ajar koines afford pole v i cushty ooh i arrive riddles demarcates v i me bite i ooh btw flick on jog pin i quandary chucky ho aloof vixen its ruby dems hiatus scoff its whip its zilch oo stirrup arts cedar vams hack hickory chin smoked cheg dutch flavour flick on axioms ji v hunch hes oo achtung munch v ignoble it bash clock in ok ah credit ref haagen dazs v badge its z reg bade it sad v baffle ooh v ill neck its fag c v igor vam guv buddy i gotcha bic v aka in date buck board viola no dream no pj smoothie v licensed to ruffle a feather it is block ok in v ada v fifth knight element aider it is o charged it fees hit v aid resolute i ooh Nh3+ dab! |
|
Nov-02-21
 | | pittpanther: I spent several minutes trying to figure out how white wins - then realized it is black to move! |
|
Nov-02-21
| | chrisowen: No it's getting too dark no? |
|
| Nov-02-21 | | whiteshark: "Today we continue with our occasional series on chess tactics with an examination of forks and pins and how we can use them together" ... if one would have needed an introductory text. |
|
| Nov-03-21 | | agb2002: <saturn2: <agb2002 23... Nh6+ 24.gxh6 Rg8, winning decisive material (25.Qxg8+ Rxg8+ 26.Ng3 f4).>
I think White can avoid losing the knight by
25.Kf1Rxg5 26.Nxg5
...
No 26....h6 traps.>
Yep: 27.Ne6 Rd6 28.Nf8 Kg7. |
|
Nov-03-21
 | | gawain: Queens and rooks, knight checks and a g-file skewer. Like yesterday. Only easier? |
|
| Nov-03-21 | | TheBish: <kdogphs: Rg8!! We call this a skewer kids!!!> <gawain: Queens and rooks, knight checks and a g-file skewer. Like yesterday. Only easier?> Why is 24...Rg8 being called a skewer? It's a pin! If the positions of the white king and queen were reversed, it would be a skewer. |
|
Kibitzing
sac: 23...Nh3+