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Dec-22-07
 | | Eggman: Incidentally, I see that many are referring to today's puzzle as an example of a GREEK GIFT or what Vukovic called the CLASSIC BISHOP SACRIFICE. Not so. The combination would only qualify as such if there were a White Knight on f3. <Patzer2> S#@%, I dunno, maybe I didn't consider 19...Qe8 or maybe or thought (horror of horrors) that 20.Ng4 would then be mate. A blunder on my part. I can't seem to make 17.Nf3 work, at least not for a victory. Frustrating. |
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| Dec-22-07 | | patzer2: <eggman> That's OK. I thought the 14...f6 line completely equalized, but after 14...f6 15.Rh3 fxe5 16. Qh7+ Kf6 17. Bxe5!  it looks like White gets a clear advantage. Perhaps <Jimfromprovidence>'s 15...Qc7! or 15...Rb8 are Black's best chance(s) at equality following the Bishop sacrifice. At least that's what the computer's trying to tell me. |
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| Dec-22-07 | | alphee: Got it until 16.....♔f7 but totaly missed 17.♖g8.
The first move was to be choosen between 12.♗xh7, 12.♗h6 or 12.♕h5 that came as the first candidates and only the first one had a logical following.This reminded be of Vukovic's Art of Attack where chapter 6 is all about the bishop sacrifice on h7 with good examples. "Timeo danaos et dona ferentes" ... Let's see what sunday will bring.
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| Dec-22-07 | | erniecohen: Like everyone else, I'd play Bxh7 OTB, but this is a terrible puzzle: - The "solution" is the most obvious move;
- The "solution" doesn't appear to be ultimately winning against best defence, or even obviously better than other, quieter continuations;
- There doesn't appear to be a clear, winning solution. |
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| Dec-22-07 | | Steve Case: I was move for move with white until that pawn chased the Knight on the other side of the board. After that, I just sat back and watched (-: |
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| Dec-22-07 | | Terry McCracken: < erniecohen: Like everyone else, I'd play Bxh7 OTB, but this is a terrible puzzle:
- The "solution" is the most obvious move;
- The "solution" doesn't appear to be ultimately winning against best defence, or even obviously better than other, quieter continuations; - There doesn't appear to be a clear, winning solution.>It's a beautiful combination. White will win.
Check with deep assisted computer analysis.
White always knew he was winning and at worse would only draw. It takes awhile and many moves before a computer sees it's winning, it's very deep. Terry
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| Dec-23-07 | | erniecohen: Hi Terry, I'm afraid I just don't see the win if black doesn't try to defend g7 (e.g., see UdayanOwen's post). I'm not saying that white might not get an advantage, but I don't see anything close to a clear win, and that's kind of expected when you post a position as a problem. |
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| Aug-20-23 | | Brenin: Bxh7+ for a Sunday POTD? The first few moves are not just obvious, but virtually compulsory. However, the real puzzle (analysed thoroughly 16 years ago) is to determine whether or not Black can wriggle free. I'm not going to try to repeat what better players than me found all those years ago. And so to bed. |
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| Aug-20-23 | | Brenin: 15 ... Rb1 was proposed as a Black defence. What about 15 ... Ne4, and if 16 Nf3 or Rd1 then 16 ... Qb6? |
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Aug-20-23
 | | Korora: Well, I saw the ♗ sac but not the follow-up. |
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| Aug-20-23 | | geeker: What <erniecohen> and <Brenin> said. The "answer" seems to be Bxh7+, but I doubt it wins. |
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| Aug-20-23 | | mel gibson: The first move was obvious but Stockfish 16
says that the score is close to a draw.
12. Bxh7+
(12. Bxh7+ (Bd3xh7+ Kg8xh7 Qd1-h5+ Kh7-g8 Re1-e3 f7-f5 Re3-h3 Nc5-e4 Qh5-g6 Be7-h4 g2-g3 Qd8-e8
Qg6xe8 Rf8xe8 g3xh4 Ne4xd2 Bf4xd2 c6-c5 f2-f3 Kg8-f7 Kg1-f2 Re8-h8 Ra1-g1
Bc8-b7 h4-h5 d5-d4 c2-c3 d4xc3 b2xc3 Ra8-d8 ) +0.59/55 785) score for White +0.59 depth 55. |
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Aug-20-23
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: How to grade this? Decided that the game move was a trap that should lead to a loss for White (and the CG computer agrees)--but White won. Also, if White doesn't play his unsound sacrifice, Black's position looks extremely good. So White should have played his blunder?! |
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| Aug-20-23 | | Cecco: As indicated by <mel gibson> black must defend by bringing Nc5 to e4 and Be7 to h4. However even after the fatal error 15. ... Qe8 I struggled to understand how white forces the win. It should be about this. 22. Ng6 forces black to 22. ... Qd7, otherwise 23. Ch8+ follows and 23. ... Rxh8 is not possible because of mate in g7. The knight in g6 also prevents Be7 against Bg5. But the queen on d7 then prevents the king from escaping in the final position, where 26. ... Af8 no longer works because of mate in two. |
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Aug-20-23
 | | scormus: Weird. I get the first 5 moves of a Sunday puzzle and still don't feel satisfied.
The 6th? I was undecided and went for 17 Bh6, intending to follow up with Bxg7. I see SF rates is almost the same as the text, Rg3, with ca. +8 to W. What's all this about it being roughly equal at move 12? As already pointed out, 15 ... Qe8 was a mistake. For one thing B needed 15 ... Ne4, which seemed the natural move to play, and also it robs the BK of the chance to play ... Ke8. In that case SF would rate it ca. +1 to W. Should we be surpreised at the modest advantage to W with best play from movw 12? A quick look suggests W has good attacking chances, but B's position is fairly solid and W shouldn't expect a forced win. I feel it's strange choice for Sunday (or any day) POTD. I have to ask whether the CG panel, like so many people in Britain, are "working" from home. Yes, weird. |
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Aug-20-23
 | | jffun1958: I saw 12.Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.Qh5+ Kg8 14.Re3 f5. After that Black can play different moves. Stockfish favours 15. ... Ne4 followed by Ng5 or Nxd2 instead of 15. ... Qe8. |
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Aug-20-23
 | | Stonehenge: This may be a game from the Hispanidad tournament, Medina del Campo Spain, December 1981. See https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/... p. 50. |
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| Aug-20-23 | | goodevans: <Brenin: Bxh7+ for a Sunday POTD? The first few moves are not just obvious, but virtually compulsory...> <scormus: Weird. I get the first 5 moves of a Sunday puzzle and still don't feel satisfied...> My thoughts entirely. |
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| Aug-20-23 | | agb2002: Black is about to play Nxd3.
The first idea that comes to mind is 12.Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.Qh5+ Kg8 14.Re3 f6 (to enable the diagonal e8-h5 for the black queen and f6 for the bishop) 15.Rh3, better than 15.Rg3 Qe8 16.Rxg7+ Kxg7 17.Bh6+ Kh7 or 15.Bh6 Qe8, but unclear. An alternative is 12.Qg4 Nxd3 13.Bh6 g6 14.cxd3 Re8 15.Nf3, trying to exploit the created weaknesses. A simple option is 12.Bf1 to keep the bishop pair and have the possibility of playing on both sides of the board. I don't know. I'd probably would look at the chess clock and play 12.Bxh7+, 12.Qg4 or 12.Bf1 if the remainder of the division minutes/3 is 0, 1 or 2, respectively. |
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Aug-20-23
 | | chrisowen: I'd squirm foot bank jolly its c u Bxh7+ ago its quo dud axiom jock git Bxh7+ its eg |
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| Aug-20-23 | | mel gibson: < An Englishman: Good Evening: How to grade this? Decided that the game move was a trap that should lead to a loss for White (and the CG computer agrees)--but White won. Also, if White doesn't play his unsound sacrifice, Black's position looks extremely good. So White should have played his blunder?!> This is one of those positions where the
computer can't be used.
12. Bxh7+
straight away wins one pawn back for the lost Bishop and puts Black under pressure of
a strong attack with his King exposed.
If Black plays any inaccuracy he's lost.
That is real chess under pressure not the billions
of combinations from a computer. |
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Aug-20-23
 | | Fusilli: It is an unusual puzzle, in that puzzles are generally about finding the best move (and continuation), not about what move gives you the most practical chances. I understand the frustration shown in the comments, but the puzzle reflected a real life problem: What move to make, rather than what move to make knowing that it is a fatal blow. That's why Guess the Move is a better training exercise than puzzles. I would have probably played Bxh7+ on purely practical grounds, mostly because at this stage in my life I just want to play chess for fun and don't feel awful if I lose. But no credit for me. My calculation was awfully lazy and inconclusive. |
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Aug-20-23
 | | PawnSac: I played the first 3 moves automatically (of course not seeing a clear win), then
after seeing black's replay 14...f5 then proceeded with the next series up to
18...Bf8 . So far I have played 7 of the game moves, yet still don't see a clear win. [White doesn't have enough after 19.Qg6+ Ke7 20.Ng5+ since black has the
flight square ..Kd7.]
At this point I had to find a promising continuation, but 21.Nf3 22.Ng5+ doesn't
get anywhere and the knight is in the way.
The only idea I can find is 19.b4 to kick the knight and hope he blunders ..Nd7. So
I play b4 and he answers ..Nb7. hmmmm.
Now I'm 8 moves in and STILL don't see a win. At this point I'm reduced to the maxim.. "when you dont see a good move, improve the position of your worst placed piece." So that's what I do.. I see nothing meaningful with a Ra1-___? move. The only thing left is Nf3/Nh4 to bring another piece into the dogfight. so.. 20.Nf3 Nd8 21.Nh4 Rb8
(and black has time for pawn chasing??) Oh good grief. Now i'm in 10 moves and it's
still unclear! It seems I'm finding the right moves because they're the only ideas
on the board! lol
22. _?_
OK either protect the pawn or press a little harder on the k-side. At this point it becomes a pragmatic guessing game. I can't see how protecting the attacked pawn is going to win so I conclude that since white wins black will probably blunder if I press harder. Rg6/Rf6+ gets nowhere. Argh. The only thing left is 22.Ng6 maybe??
So I play it. Correct again, but at this point I'm beginning to feel like I'm actually roughing this out over the board in an actual game. Then it occurs to me that's what white was doing! The same as me. took the intuitive sac.. then oops, o well do or die.. but now I'm impatient because I won't get any rating points for all this work, so I say forget it.. and click thru the rest of the game. So I have basically guessed 11 moves correctly then quit. So i didn't win the game.
but Ironically, neither did white! black lost it, but white didn't "win" it. lol what a crazy puzzle. OH, excuse me.. "guess the move" <g> |
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Aug-20-23
 | | perfidious: <Fusilli>, we have seen a recent tendency towards POTDs which deviate from the norm of many years' standing, in that the continuations are nearer a game situation than necessarily being a linear, forcing windup, even as early as Mondays. |
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Aug-21-23
| | Fusilli: <perf> Oh, thanks. I have not been consistent with my attention to the puzzles, so I didn't know this. |
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sac: 12.Bxh7+