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Later Kibitzing> |
| Oct-05-07 | | Crowaholic: I found 25. ..Bh4! with the Rh1+ mating threat quickly but missed the great 26. Rd8+ deflection sacrifice by White and the following complications. <lentil: Can anyone explain why black played 27. ... Bb6 instead of the (now) obvious 27. ...Bh5> 27. ..Bh4? 28. Nf3 has already been mentioned, but here is a more in-depth discussion: 28. Nf3 with the idea of Nh2 after the discovered check stops the mate, and after 28. ..Bg3 there is 29. Nxh2, of course. 28. ..Bxf3 is possible, but as the g pawn is no longer pinned after ..Rh1+, 29. Rxf3 again prevents the mate. E.g. 28. Nf3 Bxf3 29. Rxf3 Be1! 30. Qxe1 Rh1+ 31. Kf2 Rxe1 32. Kxe1 with approximate equality. If White loses the Q anyway, maybe 29. Qxf3 is better, though. Black can trade both rooks for the queen with 29. ..Rh1+ etc., but this leaves White with a rook vs bishop endgame - not good. What's worse is that Black gets to keep the dark-squared bishop but all his pawns are on light squares (and after b3 the same goes for most white pawns). So this should be a white endgame win. To sum things up, White can at least draw in this line, and possibly win. |
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| Oct-05-07 | | Creg: <MAJ> Having explained your point in greater detail sheds new light on what you were trying to say. Though this happens to all of us at one time or another. To answer your question in a very simple to the point kind of way is...Tactics! Now the long answer...:)
Since the dawn of chess, or at least it feels like that...:) Masters have always expressed the importance of studying tactics. Study tactics every day, as often as possible, and never stop. If you study tactics long enough, the queen sacrifice actually stands out as a primary candidate move for any master level player. Black has two rooks bearing down the h-file, one bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal and a knight sitting pretty at g4. With all this fire power hitting the king-side Shmidt only needed to find a way to get control of the dark squares. Once he envisioned the bishop coming to h4 he most likely realized that the knight at d6 would defend all too well. Viola! Lets get rid of the knight, and see what happens. It's important to note that one probably does not think queen sac first, but rather sees the mating threats of bishop to h4 and then looks for ways to make the threats plausible. This is when moves such as Qxd6 become playable. |
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| Oct-05-07 | | patzer2: After a sac-fest, beginning with 20...Nxe5!? and 22...Qxd6!?, GM Schmidt follows up with the only continuation to maintain his attacking initiative against the weak Kingside castled position with today's puzzle solution 25...Bh4! The outcome is simplification to a won King and Pawn ending. For those wishing to study true sacrfices, combinational attacking play, and endgame tactics this is truly a game worthy of study |
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| Oct-05-07 | | JamesBJames: Wow, this is perhaps the first Friday one I've actually got. Bh4! is a very nice move. |
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| Oct-05-07 | | willyfly: I didn't get this one. Not even close. But after looking at the solution - this is a beauty. I will really study this one. |
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Oct-05-07
 | | fm avari viraf: It's a very tactical game all the way & I think, the puzzle should start on 22...Qxd6! However, 25...Bh4! threatening mate on next move [ but not 25...Rxg2+ 26.Qxg2  ] 26.Rd8+ what else? ...Bxd8 27.Nd4 Bb6 & Black is in a commanding position but for a win has to play precisely. Indeed, an instructive game & the end game tactics where White lands in zugswang is simply superb! |
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| Oct-05-07 | | SuperPatzer77: <kbaumen> and <Crowaholic> - I completely agree with Crowaholic - 27...Bb6 is much better than 27...Bh4?. If instead of 27. Nd4, 27.Nd2?, Bb6+ forcing mate of 28...Rh1#. The only move for White is 27. Nd4 Bb6 pinning the White Knight on d4. Black creates very powerful pressure on King side and exploits White's weak Pawn structure. |
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Oct-05-07
 | | Jimfromprovidence: This is my first post. I got this puzzle but not until after many dead ends. I agree with Whiteshark’s comments about move number 28 for black. “Starting with 28... Rxg2+ black transformed his advantage immediately into a winning endgame. However, he could have use the circumstance that white is in a zugzwang-like position. Moving <28...R8h3!> brings the rook in a better position, compared to the actual game, so that it's serves an even more superior endgame.” I found this move as well. My analysis showed that after 28… R8h3 then white is indeed left between a rock and a hard place. If he tries say 29 a3 or a4 then the sequence: 29… Bxd4+ 30 cxd4 Rxg2+ 31 Qxg2 Bxg2 32 Kxg2 Rd3 wins white’s d pawn for black and a 2 pawn end game advantage. |
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| Oct-05-07 | | MostlyAverageJoe: <fm avari viraf: It's a very tactical game all the way & I think, the puzzle should start on 22...Qxd6!> Alas, 22...Kb8 is a perfectly good (but plain and comparatively ugly) alternative to Qxd6, so it would not be a good puzzle. <Creg> I am quite aware that tactical combinations frequently arise by first visualizing the desired position and then figuring out how to get there, and sometimes describe my thoughts in precisely that sequence, but thanks for the tutorial anyway :-) The trust that black had in his 16-ply calculation is what impresses me most about this game... |
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| Oct-05-07 | | birdplaya: When I went through the game i thought that he blew the win on move 40. ... f5 when he blocked his three pawns with one of whites. Then I realized that it was a brillant move, forcing white to lose the endgame. The puzzle was nice, but my favorite part was the well played ending by black. |
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| Oct-05-07 | | Marmot PFL: Found it rather quickly for Friday with Bh4 cutting off the king's escape. Unusual in that the winner still has to win the ending. |
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| Oct-05-07 | | netlava: lol I stopped calculating after Bh4 |
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| Oct-05-07 | | capabaro07: It took me 15 mts to find 25.....Bh4
Was knocked out to see 26.Rd8+ I wonder if Schmidt saw this in advance? |
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| Oct-05-07 | | xrt999: Black's advantage going into the end game is 0.94 according to CM at move 32. So, after a series of exchanges and 7 moves later, black has a pawn advantage going into the endgame. I think that is the real solution. I dont think solving the puzzle is just Bh4 threatening mate. |
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| Oct-05-07 | | not yet a patzer: <MostlyAverageJoe: <not yet a patzer> and <moppa>
Rd8+ is not really a desperation move - it gains a tempo that white is sorely missing> <MAJ> I totally agree. I am just trying to think of a different word for "desperate" when a player trades a rook for a tempo, because that, to the uneducated, like myself, sounds pretty extreme. Is this a common technique - trading a piece, especially a rook, for a tempo? |
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| Apr-10-17 | | docbenway: Just saw this game, what grabs me is the use of the black pawns in the ending. |
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| Jul-30-23 | | Brenin: 22 ... Qxd6 is an ingenious way of winning a P and reaching a won endgame, but OTB there's no way I'd take that risk, since 22 ... Kb8 seems just as effective after the obvious 23 Nxb7 Qxb7, with Nxh2 to follow. |
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| Jul-30-23 | | mel gibson: I chose 22...Kb8
Stockfish 16 agrees but it's not really correct: 22. .. Kb8
(22. .. Kb8 (Kc8-b8 Nd6xb7 Qc7xb7
Rd1-d3 Ng4xh2 Bg1xh2 Rh4xh2+ Kh1-g1 Qb7-b6+ Qe2-e3 Qb6-c6 Qe3-e2 Bf6xb2
Nb3-d4 Rh2-h1+ Kg1-f2 Qc6-c5 Qe2-e3 Rh1xf1+ Kf2xf1 Rh8-c8 Kf1-g1 Rc8-c7
) +3.92/45 221)
score for Black +3.92 depth 45
When I force SF to play the game line it says that it's slightly better! 22. .. Qxd6
23. Rxd6
(23. Rxd6 (Rd1xd6 Ng4xh2 Bg1xh2 Rh4xh2+ Kh1-g1 Bf6-h4 Rd6-d8+ Bh4xd8 Nb3-d4 Bd8-b6 c2-c3 Rh8-h3
Rf1-d1 Rh3-h4 Qe2-c2 Rh2xg2+ Qc2xg2 Bb7xg2 Kg1xg2 Rh4xf4 Nd4-f3 Rf4-e4
Kg2-f1 Re4-e3 Nf3-e1 g6-g5 Rd1-c1 Re3-e4 Rc1-c2 g5-g4 Rc2-h2 f7-f5 Ne1-d3
) -5.08/45 242)
score for White -5.08 depth 45. |
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| Jul-30-23 | | Mayankk: Given it's a puzzle and we are under check, the first move we investigate is the daring 22 ... Qxd6 23 Rxd6. Now we have two choices to harass the White King - 23 ... Nxh2 24 Bxh2 Rxh2+ 25 Kg1 or 23 ... Rxh2+ 24 Bxh2 Rxh2+ 25 Kg1. At a first glance none seems to work as Black is down far too much material and White seems to have had the critical a7 - g1 diagonal covered. And the logical way for Black to mate White is to get its dark-squared Bishop to cover this diagonal. As we probe further on the 23 ... Nxh2+ line, we stumble on the seemingly illogical 25 ... Bh4 and the funny mate sequence, 26 Kxh2 Bf2 27 Qh5 Rxh5#. After that it gets easy. White needs to keep throwing material to stave off mate. 26 Rd8+ Bxd8 etc. The deadly Bishop pair and the Rooks on open h file means White has no respite from mate threats. I didn't look further and will count it as a solve. But only because it was a puzzle and the 22 ... Qxd6 seemed like the only puzzlelike solution. No way I would have seen this in a real game. |
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Jul-30-23
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: A nice, normal, healthy 5/7 for the week, missing both weekenders. Completely failed to notice White had Black in check. Sigh. |
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| Jul-30-23 | | King.Arthur.Brazil: Because of being insane, the only move that is possible to avoid the check effect highlights a ♕ sacrifice with 22...Qxd6 23. Rxd6. But how to continue? On 23... Nxh2 [24. Bb6 (or similar) Ng4+ 25. Kg1 Rh1#, therefore the capture is again forced] 24. Bxh2 Rxh2+ 25. Kg1 Bh4 (If 26. Kxh2?? Bf2+ 27. Qh5 Rxh5#). In the case of 26. Rf3 Rh1+ 27. Kxh1 Bf2+ 28. Rh3 Rxh3#. Formidable check mate. Hope I'm right. |
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| Jul-30-23 | | Mayankk: The 40 ... f5 zugzwang move by Black, although looks quite pretty, may not be really needed. The simple 40 ... g5 seems to win as well. 41 fxg5 fxg5 and White King can't cover both flanks. 41 f5 is no better. Maybe just a way to rub salt into White's wounds. |
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| Jul-30-23 | | jrredfield: 22 ... Qxd6 jumped out right away. The only other alternative for Black is to move the King, hardly an intriguing escape from check for a Sunday puzzle. The question is what's next. I then after brief thought saw:
23 Rxd6 Nxh2
24 Bxh2 Rxh2+
25 Kg1 Bh4
Here if White doesn't play Rd8+, but some other move, Black threatens 26 ... Rh1+ 27 Kxh1 Bf2+ 28 Qh5 Rxh5# so
26 Rd8+ Bxd8
27 Nd4 Bb6 (pinning the Knight)
28 c3 R8h3
29 Qg4 (gxh3 and White loses his Queen) Bxd4
30 cxd4 Rxg2+
31 Qxg2 (forced) Bxg2
and Black will have a won end game. |
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Jul-30-23
 | | perfidious: The snag for me was visualising the subvariation mentioned by <ConstantImprovement> of: <27.Rd3 Rh1+ 28.Kxh1 Bf2+> mating. |
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Jul-30-23
 | | scormus: A brilliant puzzle! For a while I thought I was going to get it and make 7/7 this week for the first time ever. I considered my OTB choice, 22 ... Kb8, but since it was a puzzle I thought it must be 22 ... Qxd6. It's only playable if one finds 25 ... Bh4 (26 Kxh2 Bf2+ 0-1), which I looked at but unfortunately didn't spend enough time on. Great credit to B for the bold choice which wins despite W's fighting attempt, 26 Rd8+! It must have been obvious to B that 22 ... Kb8 would have retained the advantage |
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Kibitzing
sac: 22...Qxd6