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| Jun-17-09 | | YoungEd: I don't care if the puzzle IS easy! It's Wednesday, I got it, so I'm happy! :) |
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| Jun-17-09 | | CHESSTTCAMPS: <zooter:> responding to <<smalldreams:>... what's white supposed to do after 23...Rd6?> wrote <Exchange rooks and the extra bishop should win easily> Agreed. Rd6 is the only move if black wants to continue. White can try for a middlegame victory with 24.Rf5 (pursuing the back rank theme), but after 24...Qe8 25.Rf7 R6d7, it appears that white has nothing better to do than exchange rooks anyway. A quicker approach may be 24.Rxd6 cxd6 (Qxd6 25.Qf7+ Kh8 26.Re1) 25.Qd5+ Kh8 26.Be1 followed by Bg3 threatening Qxd6. Black can't create a luft for the king (g6 or h6) without fatally weakening the kingside. |
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| Jun-17-09 | | Patriot: The only candidate I saw was 23.Rxd5, seeing that 23...Qxd5 24.Qf7+ Kh8 25.Qf8+ Rxf8 26.Rxf8#. |
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| Jun-17-09 | | beenthere240: I have a feeling that white was aware of this combo potential when she played 19. Re5. |
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| Jun-17-09 | | Major Dude: Very easy. 3 for 3 so far. |
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| Jun-17-09 | | jsheedy: Took me about a minute to realize the black rook at e6 blocked the black queen from f7 after ...Qxd5. After that, it was easy. A forehead-slapper. |
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| Jun-17-09 | | njchess: Similar theme to yesterday's puzzle (M Rytshagov vs R Slobodjan, 1999), and a bit easier I think. 23. Rxd5! Qxd5? (23. ... Rd6 24. Rf5  ) 24. Qf7+ leaves White with mate in two. I'll bet Black resigned somewhere in this sequence. Time to check.As for the game, Black's answer to the Queen's Gambit is the super solid Nimzo-Indian. White plays the equally solid 4. e3 (aka the Rubinstein Variation) with 5. Bd3. Black replies with 4. ... 0-0 (preferred over c5 which is a common reply to 4. e3) and the flexible 5. b6 (aka the Fischer System). 6. Nf3 is preferred over Nge2 and by 7. 0-0, the opening tabia is complete. White has established a strong center, but Black controls squares with pieces, notably d5, effectively restraining White. At this point, Black plays 7. ... Bxc3, creating a potential weakness in White's queenside. However, although there is nothing inherently wrong with this move, it does not yield Black any tangible, lasting advantage. In fact, one could argue that it strengthens White's already strong center, while removing a potentially important piece from Black's arsenal. Other alternatives are c5 or d6 (which ironically almost always induces Bxc3 after White plays a3). After the exchange, 8. ... Ne4 9. Qc2 f5 is a seemingly logical progression. But this piece of tactics is premature and is neatly refuted with 10. Nd2. After the exchanges, White's strong center is as solid as ever. Better would have been Re8 with d6, or vice versa, or Be4! followed by c5. By 15. Qxe4, Black's light square control is a faded memory, as are his active pieces. Although his position is cramped and offers little in the way of counter play, it is, with the exception of the problematic e6 pawn, reasonably solid. 15. ... Re8 and the active 16. ... Nf6 are preferred over, but are less accurate than Qe7 followed by Rae8. Still, it took 18. g4! followed by 19. Re5 to make that clear. And yet, it takes a final slip by Black with 21. ... Rad8?? that allows White to play the nifty combination of 22. fxe6 followed by 23. Rxd5! for the win. Better would have been c6 (e.g. 21. ... c6 22. f6 Qf7 =). Nice job by White for patiently taking what Black gave her and then keeping up the pressure by pressing home her resulting slight positional advantage. In a tense position, Black makes a final slip allowing White to seal the win. |
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| Jun-17-09 | | Utopian2020: I looked at today's puzzle last night for several minutes and saw nothing. I looked at it again this morning and immediately saw Rxd5. |
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Jun-17-09
 | | sbevan: Got it, for once! :) |
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| Jun-17-09 | | YouRang: Not too hard. It took me a little while to see Qf7+, setting up the back-rank mate, but once I did see it, it was solved. :-) |
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Jun-17-09
 | | Jimfromprovidence: These are fun for those who like mostly checkmate puzzles. This was my first chessbook purchase (in the early 70's). Game Collection: Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess |
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| Jun-17-09 | | StevieB: Took me a while but I nailed it and now I want a medal. Anyone? |
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| Jun-17-09 | | lost in space: Ahh, I love Monday's; 8-)
31. Rxd5 Qxd5 32. Qf7+ Kh8 33. Qf8+ with mate to follow |
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| Jun-17-09 | | lost in space: <<southeuro>: who is this player with black?? sucha patzer> Me too a patzer |
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| Jun-17-09 | | Samagonka: Very good puzzle. At least I came closer to the solution than yesterday...saw it all up to 25Q7+ and then I failed to see the queen-sac for mate! How embarrassing! |
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| Jun-17-09 | | wals: <njchess> thank you very much for your
analysis. Just one query - is black always male and white female? |
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| Jun-17-09 | | Once: <wals: <njchess> thank you very much for your analysis. Just one query - is black always male and white female?> I think the fact that white is called Anna might have something to do with it... |
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| Jun-17-09 | | MiCrooks: So do you think that Raymond played it out another two moves because he wanted to sit and stare at the comely Miss Hahn for a little while longer?! Can't think of any other reason to play on in the position after RxN :)! |
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| Jun-17-09 | | Big Easy: I got this one about as quickly as I have ever gotten any puzzle. I'm surprised that black did not resign sooner. Surely they saw the combination that was to follow? |
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| Jun-17-09 | | WhiteRook48: I got the first move |
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Jun-17-09
 | | gawain: Yes! Got this right away. It is so similar to yesterday's deflection which I did NOT solve. This shows that I learned something from Tuesday's puzzle, at any rate. |
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| Jun-17-09 | | patzer2: For today's Tuesday puzzle solution, 23. Rxd5! sets up a decisive attack on Black's weakened back rank. |
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| Jun-17-09 | | zooter: Just for all those who say this is too easy...I'm betting this will be difficult for an amateur... we have a couple of themes here:
1) Rxd5 -- <deflecting the defender of f7> 2) Qf7+ followed by Qf8+ <exploiting the back rank weakness with a queen sac> I'm betting that it'll be a little difficult for a newbie, it'll be quite a bit of work putting these 2 together in a single combination... |
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| Jun-18-09 | | MostlyAverageJoe: <zooter: Just for all those who say this is too easy> This puzzle evaluated at slightly below the average Wednesday level but well within the standard deviation. The previous day was about midway between Tue/Wed, BTW. |
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| Jun-18-09 | | kevin86: I missed this one-good diversion by white! |
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sac: 23.Rxd5
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