Black threatens 29... Rcc2 and 29... Qxa3.

After 26...Be8? 27.exf6 black is lost, like:

27...Qf8 28.Nfh6+ Kh8 <28...gxh6 29.g7> 29.Nf5

27...Qg7 28.Ngh6+ Kf8 29.Ng5 Bxg6 30.Nxe6+

or as in the game:
27...gxf6 28.Ngh6+ Kg7 <29...Kf8 leads to POD # in 3> 29.Nf5+

After 25...f6? <correct was 25...fxg6>, white with 26.Nf7 probably imagined black's response who fell in a trap with 26...Bf8??; but after 26.Nf7 Qxa3 white has nothing, like 27.Nxf6+ Kf8 <not 27...gxf6 28.Qh5 should force mate> 28.Nh7+ Ke8 29.Nd6+ Kd8 30.Nxc8 Bxc8.

"I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down."

When you think about it (which is probably not very often), the fairy tale of the three little pigs has a glaring plot hole. If the big bad wolf is indeed capable of urban demolition by means of his breath, then there is no reason why he needs to entice the pigs to come out of their variously constructed dwellings.

Nor for that matter is there any reason why the pigs should come out. It's not much of choice. Stay inside, with the chance that the wolf might not be able to blow your house down or come outside with the certainty that bacon butties are on the menu.

Chance of survival versus certainty of death. Hmm. That's a tough one. Give me a minute to think about it.

But what sometimes happens is that a threat can appear to be so strong that it compels the threatee to do something silly. Take today's game, for example. After 23. h5 ...

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... I couldn't work out why black didn't just take the pawn. Fritz can't work it out either. He thinks that 23..gxh5 is pretty level with a slight edge to black.

Black than ignores the forceful lupine exhalations on the kingside and grabs a meaningless pawn on b2. 23...Nxb2 24. Rxb2 Rxb2. That's a "meaningless pawn" if white's kingside attack crashes through but game-winning material if black manages to defend. History is, as ever, written by the victors.

White grabs another kingside pawn with 25. hxg6 leading us to here:

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And again we are left wondering why black doesn't grab the pawn. This charmed pawn has survived one sacrifice attempt on h5. It now survives another on g6. All that huffing and puffing has disorientated black. He has been transformed from a housebound swine to a rabbit caught in the headlights. And in either case he is a fair way further down the food chain than our werewhite player.

25...f6?

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Oops. Black leaves this terrifying white pawn alone and tries to dislodge one of the knights instead. Now Fritz is doing his "me sir!, me sir!" jumping up and down thing. White wins by the slow motion h file attack of Qf3 or Qd3, followed by Qh3 and Qh7+ and the building inspector will be very disappointed at the lack of structural stability in the black dwelling.

26. Nf7? Double oops. Leads to our pretty finish, but black could have held this. Now he could have played 26...Qxa3 which Fritzie says is a half pawn advantage to black.

26...Be8? Black finally makes a defensive move, but it's too little too late.

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Now white wraps up with a series of forcing moves. 27. exf6 gxf6 (Qc7 or Qf8 were apparently better but still losing). 28. Ngh6+

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Here Black could have prolonged matters with 28...Kg7 when white mates in 15 but still has some work to do. But black is still terrified of that whitewolf pawn on g6. So instead we get 28...Kf8, leading to today's position.

For the finale, the pawn sacrifices itself for a third time. This time it cannot be refused. White, having spurned a mate along the h file now mates along the g file.

That's when I stumbled on the unfamiliar pattern 29. g7+! and everything became obvious.

Maybe that's an advantage computers have over humans. They could care less about the familiar. Just check every possible move for X number of ply in the search criteria.

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when play might continue 26...fxg5 27. Qh3 Qe8 (diagram below)

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I have to disagree with that.

While DF and I may not be close friends, I will give them their due and that they always choose a nice problem. EVERY DAY!!!

This takes a lot of work. I used to have a weekly problem on my website. (http://www.ajschess.com/lifemastera...) At one time, I used to do a new problem every week. (http://www.ajschess.com/lifemastera... <There are more than four pages of old puzzles.>)

I ONLY post these links to prove that I know how much work it is to do this.

#1.) Don't criticize, unless you know what you are talking about and maybe have some experience in that area.

#2.) Try to appreciate (a little) how much effort it takes to bring you a puzzle every single day.

While DF and I may not be close friends...>

Did you take maybe 10 seconds to consider that I wasn't criticizing anything other than my own lackluster skills?

One's experience and knowledge as a player colour the ways in which we go about problem solving.

For example, in yesterday's puzzle, the winning idea was quickly evident to me in outline-took a bit longer to flesh out the particulars to be sure.