| Jan-21-17 | | yadasampati: Ha, intuition did it again. I saw the combination of Ng3+ and Qh6 in less than a minute. I admit that i failed to see the continuation though, but i consider finding the first two moves as a small victory, enough to have a good start of this Saturday :-) |
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| Jan-21-17 | | nalinw: Yes - the first move is fairly clear - but I was too taken up with Bxg3 and controlling f2. The point is to reduce White's time by moving Qh6 and activating the potential discovered check immediately. |
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Jan-21-17
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Solved it, but feeling a tad surprised; whilst a typical dark square combination vs. the formation of e4, f3, g2 and h2, normally it requires the absence of the dark squared Bishop to work. Here, the presence of that same Bishop actually makes the attack work in variations such as 36.gxh4,Qxh4+. |
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| Jan-21-17 | | AlicesKnight: Got the continuation wrong after correct start. Nicely done here. |
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| Jan-21-17 | | YouRang: Like others, I saw the idea of combining a N sac on g3 to open the h-file with Qh6, but I never found the right way. I always wanted to follow with ...Bxg3, which looks good, but it turns out to be a wasted move, giving white time to create an escape. :-( |
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| Jan-21-17 | | gofer: The start is "simple". The first four moves are absolutely forced... <34 ... Ng3+>
<35 hxg3 Qh6>
Black threatens Nxf3+ either mating or winning the white queen, so
white has to block the h file with its bishop and give up the bishop
too!!!
<36 Bh2 Bxg3>
<37 Kg1 Bxh2+>
<38 Kf2 ...>
click for larger viewBut the real question is "What now?". We are one lousey pawn up, but
have a strong attack as well. How to continue?!?! I didn't find/play the line in the game, instead I prefered... <38 ... Bf4>
<39 Qd1 g4!>
click for larger viewThe queen and bishop threaten to dominate the dark squares around the king.
This looks more fun than what Black decided to play. LOTS OF CHOICES for
black!!! |
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| Jan-21-17 | | RandomVisitor: After 34.Qd2
click for larger viewKomodo-10.1-64bit:
-5.09/42 34...Ng3+ 35.hxg3 Qh6 36.Bh2 Bxg3 37.Kg1 Bxh2+ 38.Kf2 <Bf4> 39.Qd1 g4 40.fxg4 Ng6 41.Rd3 Ne5 42.Rh3 Qf6 43.Kg1 Rd8 44.g5 Bxg5 45.Qe1 Rd2 46.Be2 Rxb2 47.Qf1 Ng6 48.Qxf6 Bxf6 49.Bf1 Bd4+ 50.Kh2 Rf2 51.Bb5 c4 52.Bxc4 Rc2 53.Bb3 Rxc3 54.Rxc3 Bxc3 55.Bc2 Kg7 56.Kg3 Kf6 57.Ba4 Ne5 58.Kf4 Bd2+ 59.Kg3 Be3 60.Bb5 Kg5 61.Ba4 Bd4 62.Bb3 Bc3 63.Kf2 Bb4 64.Bd1 h6 65.Kg3 Be1+ |
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Jan-21-17
 | | steinitzfan: I didn't get it but unlike most weekend puzzles I can at least legitimately aspire to be able to get puzzles like this. A little hard work maybe. Black creates some powerful mate threats and White is forced to pay to deal with them. I don't see why he surrendered the second pawn with e5 though. Did he think it would give him counterplay? |
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| Jan-21-17 | | Patriot: I got it up through <36...Bxg3> seeing that <37.Bxg3 Nxf3++ 38.Bh2 Qxh2#>. For me, considering <35...Qh6> was a last try in the <34.Ng3+> line because nothing else seemed to work. <36.gxh4 Qxh4+ 37.Bh2 Qxh2#> In a game I wouldn't have seen this because it took too much time! |
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| Jan-21-17 | | lionsden: 37...Nf6+
Isn't it checkmate ? |
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| Jan-21-17 | | lionsden: Sorry...that is incorrect |
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| Jan-21-17 | | Steven87: <steinitzfan: Did he think it would give him counterplay?> My guess:
After move 38, Black has a lot of pressure on the f pawn in front of the white king, and it threatening to increase it by <39. ..g4>. Pushing the e pawn deflects the Black Q off the f file, as <39...Qf5 40. Bd4> which also increases pressure on Black's kingside |
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| Jan-21-17 | | agb2002: Black has a bishop and a knight for the bishop pair. The position of the white king suggests Ng3+ and Nf5. In the case of 34... Nf5:
A) 35.exf5 Ng3+ 36.hxg3 Qh6+ 37.Bh2 Bxg3 38.Qxg5+ (else mate next) 38... Qxg5 39.Bxg3 Qxg3 - + [Q vs B+N]. B) 35.g4 Nfg3+
B.1) 36.hxg3 Qxf3+
B.1.a) 37.Qg2 Nxg3+ 38.Kh2 Nxf1+ 39.Kh1 Qh5+ 40.Bh2 Nxh2 wins decisive material. B.1.b) 37.Bg2 Nxg3+ 38.Kh2 Nxf1#.
B.1.c) 37.Kh2 Bxg3+ 38.Kh3 g4#.
B.2) 36.Kg2 Nxf1
B.2.a) 37.Kxf1 Qxf3+ and 38... Qxg4 - + [2P].
B.2.b) 37.Qe2 Nf4+ wins.
B.2.c) 37.Qf2 Nf4+ 38.Kxf1 Nh3 seems to win a pawn at least. For example 39.Qe2 (39.Qd2 Qxf3+) 39... Nxg1 40.Kxg1 Bxc3 41.bxc3 Qxc3. C) 35.Be3 Nxe3 36.Qxe3 Ng3+ 37.hxg3 (or 37.Kg1) 37... Bd4 38.Rxd4 (if, say, 38.Qe1 Qh6#) 38... cxd4 with the exchange for a pawn. D) 35.Bf2 and probably Black should settle for 35... Nd4 because after 35... Nhg3+ 35.hxg3 Qh6+ 36.Kg1 Nxg3 37.Bxg3 Bxg3 38.Bb5 Qh2+ 39.Kf1 Qh1+ 40.Ke2 Qxg2+ 41.Kd1 Qxf3+ 42.Be2 the position is unclear [3P vs N].
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In the case of 34... Ng3+ 35.hxg3 Nf5:
A) 36.exf5 as in A above.
B) 36.Bf2 Nxg3+ transposes to D above.
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I don't know. I'd probably play 34... Nf5. |
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| Jan-21-17 | | NBZ: Didn't get this at all: I tried to combine Nxf3 and Ng3+ without success, and ended up with Qh6 threatening Ng3+. By the way the final position is rather interesting. After say 51. Ke2, it is tempting for Black to play 51. ... f5 and threaten stuff like Rb2+ Kd3 Rd2+. 
click for larger viewHowever White can now draw with 52. Nf6+ Kf8 53. Nh7+. |
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| Jan-21-17 | | morfishine: <Patriot...In a game I wouldn't have seen this because it took too much time!> I understand perfectly what you are saying, but sometimes 'too much time' is exactly whats needed... ***** |
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| Jan-21-17 | | Patriot: <morf> Hi, great to hear from you! I spent more time on this only because it is presented as a winning position. It did have some feel that something could be there because the knights, bishop, and queen were swarming around a king that is being suffocated. My test lines failed and I spent quite a bit more time to find <...Qh6> - the key move. Once I saw that and tested it a bit...I was settled on this. It would've taken a very long time control in a game for me to spend that much time here because in the case of not finding a breakthrough there is a long game ahead. |
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| Jan-21-17 | | mel gibson: I saw the first move but I didn't see how the black queen
could move over to h6
to cause so much trouble for white. |
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| Jan-21-17 | | mel gibson: The computer says:
34. Qd2 Ng3+ (34. .. Ng3+ (♘h5-g3+ h2xg3 ♕f6-h6 ♗g1-h2
♗e5xg3 ♔h1-g1 ♗g3xh2+ ♔g1-f2 ♗h2-f4 ♕d2-c2 ♘h4-g6 ♘c3-e2 ♕h6-h4+ g2-g3
♕h4-h2+ ♗f1-g2 ♗f4xg3+ ♘e2xg3 ♘g6-f4 ♔f2-f1 ♕h2xg3 ♕c2-f2 ♕g3xf2+ ♔f1xf2
♖f8-a8 a2-a3 ♖a8-a4 ♗g2-f1 ♖a4-d4 ♖d7xd4 c5xd4) +2.73/18 105) score +2.73 depth 18 |
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| Jan-21-17 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: The idea is easy. Getting the move order right is hard. I had little problem figuring out that ... Qh6 needed to come before ... Bxg3, but I stumbled in my analysis at one point after that. |
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| Jan-21-17 | | patzer2: Today's Saturday puzzle (34...?) was set up by White's not so obvious error 34.Qd2?, allowing 34...Ng3+! to break open the h-file for a decisive attack against the exposed first playher's King. The follow-up is pretty straight forward with a simple mate threat should White blunder with 36. gxh4?? Qxh4+ 37. Bh2 Qxh2#. The computers indicate Black might have won a bit faster with 38... Bf4 when play might've continued 39. Qd1 g4 40. fxg4 Ng6 41. Rd3 Ne5 42. Rh3 Qg5 43. Be2 Rd8 44. Qb3 Nxg4+ 45. Bxg4 Qxg4 46. Ne2 Rd2 47. Qf3 Qxf3+ 48. Rxf3 Be5 49. Rb3 Rxb2 50. Rxb2 Bxb2  (-3.40 @ 24 depth, Deep Fritz 15). However, Black's pick of 38...Qf6 (-2.07 @ 27 depth, Stockfish 7) appears to be a solid second best winning alternative. |
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| Jan-21-17 | | patzer2: Instead of 34. Qd2?, White can hold it level with 34. Be3 when play might continue 34...Ra8 35. Rb7 Bxc3 36. Qxc3 Qxc3 37. bxc3 Nf4 38. Rxb6 Rxa2 39. Bxf4 gxf4 40. Kg1 Ra3 = (0.00 @ 26 depth, Deep Fritz 15). |
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Kibitzing
