| Aug-06-20 | | Lossmaster: In the position at the beginning of the puzzle, there’s a nice pattern where the four knights together control all the white squares around them except the one right in the middle of them. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | agb2002: The knight on b4 doesn't have a good move but it is unclear how to exploit this directly so the natural move seems to be 19.f5: A) 19... Qxe5 20.f6
A.1) 20... Bxf6 21.Nxc6 Nxc6 22.Bxc5 wins a piece for two pawns. A.2) 20... Bd6 21.Bf4 wins decisive material.
A.3) 20... gxf6 21.Bf4 Ne4 22.Qd1 Nxc3 23.bxc3 Qe4 24.cxb4 wins a piece. B) 19... exf5 20.Nxf5
B.1) 20... Rfe8 21.Bxc5 Bxc5 22.Qg5 looks very good for White (22... Bf8 23.Nh6+ Kh8 24.Nxf7+). B.2) 20... Ne4 21.Nxe4 dxe4 22.Bb6 Qd7 23.Qxd7 Bxd7 24.Nxe7+ wins a piece. C) 19... f6 20.exf6 Rxf6 (20... Bxf6 21.Nd1 and the knight on b4 is trapped) 21.fxe6 seems to win a pawn with the better position. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | Brenin: I got 19 f5, more on general positional principles than through rigorous calculation, though I did foresee exploiting the hanging Ns. <agb2002>'s 19 ... f6 20 exf6 Rxf6 looks like a plausible defence, though 21 Bg5 may be stronger than 21 fxe6. The resignation seems a little premature, as Black has two Ps for the B. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | Walter Glattke: EZ, 19.f5 opens the line for Rf3 Bg7 and castle attack. Nb4 is a blunder, cofirmed. 19.-Qxe5 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.Bf4 Qf6 22.Bd6 Qh4 23.g3 Rxf1+ 24.Rxf1 Qh3 25.Bxe7 wins, 19.-exf5 20.Bh6 Qxe5 21.Nxf5 Bf6 22.Rae1 many lines to win here. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | erdogankilic: Lossmaster: In the position at the beginning of the puzzle, there’s a nice pattern where the four knights together control all the white squares around them except the one right in the middle of them :)) |
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Aug-06-20
 | | OhioChessFan: Surprised Black resigned here. 2 Pawns for a piece isn't enough, but the 5 Pawn chain might present White some problems in converting.
click for larger view |
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| Aug-06-20 | | GlennOliver: Rather than
21. ... Nxc6
the alternate
21. ,,, Ne4
seems to give Black better possibilities for a draw. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | saturn2: Trapping the Nb4 by 19. Nd1 c3 fails because of
19...Ne4
I could not solve thiis puzzle. I looked at 19 f5 Bd7 and did not see a clear win for white. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | Pedro Fernandez: At first glance 19.f5 looks the best move, attacking black e6-pawn but also powering all the white pieces on the kingside. The black move 19...Qxe5?? is a horrible idea. Now one must to study how black should play, but I go to sleep (5:27 am EDT). Have good day! |
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| Aug-06-20 | | Pedro Fernandez: But my great <OCF>, your figure is a pawn's meeting!! |
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| Aug-06-20 | | Brenin: <GlennOliver>: After 21 ... Ne4, 22 Nxe4 leaves White with two pieces for two pawns, e.g. 22 ... Qxe4 23 Nxb4, or 22 ... Nxc6 (or bxc6) 23 Nxf6+ etc. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | thegoodanarchist: LPDO !!! |
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| Aug-06-20 | | Predrag3141: <The resignation seems a little premature; Surprised Black resigned> Agreed, but only if you would play on two pawns down. In 6-second runs, Stockfish rates White's positional advantage at about +1.0 (total of about +2.0), and I wouldn't argue. White will penetrate the queenside with his knight and bishop, which is especially useful since the central pawns won't hem in his pieces. |
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Aug-06-20
 | | olinart: It seems to me that after
22...d4
23. Bxf8 dxc3
24. bxc3 Kxf8
Black has a pretty even game. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | TheaN: Hmpf. I glanced at the game move, but can I be critical this seems a bit farfetched as a tactical puzzle? I took a long time looking at 19.Nxc6? with the assumption that Black had to play b- or Qxc6... even that fails (though bxc6 might not after 20.Bxc5 Bxc5 21.Na4 ±) but after Nxc6= Black is fine. I finally settled on <19.Ncb5?!<>> but wasn't convinced at all. The key is to exploit Nb4 but after <19....axb5 20.Qxb4 Ne4=<>> White's only marginally better at best. I don't know. 19.f5 is a logical move, but I'm not sure it works for a Thursday as a whole: after 19....Qxe5 sure, it plays itself. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | onigorom: 22...d4 doesn t work:
23.Na4 with Bb6 and Nc5 following, also opens the diagonal for wsb, Bf3Black can play on, but positionally they are worse. Center pawns are going nowhere. White has several plans to squeeze... |
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| Aug-06-20 | | Predrag3141: <19.f5 is a logical move, but I'm not sure it works for a Thursday as a whole: after 19....Qxe5 sure, it plays itself.>
Agreed on both points, mostly:
- 19...exf5 20.Nxf5 leaves Black many options, so there is no clearcut win for White. - After 19 ... Qxe5 20 f6! is very clever, appropriate for a Thursday. A slight nit: this is not what I call playing itself. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | TheaN: < Predrag3141: <19.f5 is a logical move, but I'm not sure it works for a Thursday as a whole: after 19....Qxe5 sure, it plays itself.> Agreed on both points, mostly: - 19...exf5 20.Nxf5 leaves Black many options, so there is no clearcut win for White.> So, this should have been 20.?. That wouldn't have been that bad, tbh. <- After 19 ... Qxe5 20 f6! is very clever, appropriate for a Thursday. A slight nit: this is not what I call playing itself.> Fair, I wrote that out of frustration of 'not seeing it', but mainly because I thought there was something more obvious on move 19. That said, 20.f6 seems easier than the average Thursday level, considering it's mainly about 20....gxf6 21.Bf4 Ne4 22.Qd1 Nxc3 23.bxc3 +- (which is, imo, a rather forced sequence to safe the queen, in case Black wants to) so they could have kept this one for an earlier week 20.?. It could have sufficed for 20.Thursday too. As it is now, I don't like it. I mean... I should watch out with these corrections before we get Sunday puzzles 1.?. And by popular recent analysis, it isn't even 'sound' :>. A lot of games to choose from, though. |
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Aug-06-20
 | | An Englishman: Good Morning: Surprising position because it arose from a Sicilian Najdorf and not a French Defense. Also surprising--that a combination even exists. It looks so similar to so many routine positions. |
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Aug-06-20
 | | Jimfromprovidence: This is another Thursday level puzzle with move 24, white to play. 
click for larger view Here is the game link. (It's from Lone Pine in 1975). Larry Evans vs Benko, 1975 |
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| Aug-06-20 | | Predrag3141: <Jimfromprovidence> Thanks for bringing us this. 24 f5 is easy to spot but the follow-up is surprising, because it leaves White down a rook and an exchange for one ply. As you say, Thursday level. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | MostlyWatch: Just from the board given in the puzzle I would have said this was a game from 1917 not 2017. I.Horovitz(sp?) put something close to it in one of his books. White bishop is sacriced to break the line of black pawns, then white moves his right hand rook up thru the fence and the Queen goes in. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | RandomVisitor: After 10.f4 black is ok
click for larger viewStockfish_20073110_x64_modern:
<44/62 07:25 0.00 10...Bd7 11.Bf3 e5 12.Nxc6> Bxc6 13.Qd2 Qc7 14.Kh1 b5 15.Nd5 Bxd5 16.exd5 exf4 17.Bxf4 Nd7 18.axb5 axb5 19.Rxa8 Rxa8 20.Qe2 Qc4 21.g3 g6 22.Kg2 Bf8 23.Rf2 Qb4 24.c3 Qa4 25.Qd2 h5 26.h3 Qa6 27.Qd3 Nc5 28.Qe2 Nd7 After 10...Qc7 11.Kh1 black is still ok
click for larger viewStockfish_20073110_x64_modern:
<66/78 56:35 0.00 11...Nxd4 12.Bxd4 e5> 13.Be3 exf4 14.Bxf4 Be6 15.Qd4 Nd7 16.Nd5 Bxd5 17.Qxd5 Qxc2 18.Qxb7 Qxe2 19.Qxd7 Bf6 20.Bxd6 Rfd8 21.Qc6 Qxb2 22.Rae1 Be5 23.Be7 Qc3 24.Qxc3 Bxc3 25.Bxd8 Bxe1 26.Bb6 Bc3 27.g3 Be5 28.Rd1 Rc8 29.Rd7 Rc1+ 30.Kg2 g5 |
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| Aug-07-20 | | RandomVisitor: After 19.f5 black has nothing good
click for larger viewStockfish_20073110_x64_modern:
<60/100 18:22:51 +3.47 19...exf5 20.Nxf5 Rae8> 21.Rae1 Qd8 22.Rd1 Bd7 23.Nd6 Bxd6 24.exd6 Ne4 25.Nxe4 Rxe4 26.Bb6 Qe8 27.Bf3 Nc6 28.Qxd5 Re5 29.Qd2 Qe6 30.b4 h6 31.c3 Re8 32.Bf2 Qg6 33.Bg3 Re3 34.Bf4 R3e6 35.Qf2 Rf6 36.Bg3 Qf5 37.Kg1 Qb5 38.Rfe1 Rxe1+ <60/80 18:22:51 +3.48 19...Qxe5 20.f6 Bxf6> 21.Nxc6 Nxc6 22.Bxc5 Bg5 23.Qd3 Rfd8 24.Na4 Bf6 25.Qd2 Bg5 26.Qe1 Re8 27.b4 Be7 28.Qd2 Bxc5 29.Nxc5 Re7 30.Bf3 Rd8 31.Rad1 Qb2 32.Rb1 Qd4 33.Qxd4 Nxd4 34.c3 Nxf3 35.gxf3 Rc7 36.Rfd1 Kf8 37.Kg2 Ke7 38.h4 g6 59/81 18:22:51 +4.29 19...Nd7 20.f6 gxf6 21.exf6 Nxf6 22.Rf3 Ne4 23.Nxe4 dxe4 24.Rh3 Kh8 25.Rf1 Rad8 26.Bh6 Qe5 27.c3 Rg8 28.Be3 Nd3 29.Bxd3 exd3 30.Nxc6 bxc6 31.Bd4 Rxd4 32.cxd4 Qe2 33.Rxf7 Rg7 34.Rf2 Qxd2 35.Rxd2 Rg5 36.Rhxd3 Rxa5 37.g3 e5 38.Re2 Bf6 |
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Kibitzing
