| Sep-11-22 | | Brenin: I tried and failed find a win for Black with 22 ... Rxb2+ 23 Kxb2 (23 Kh1 Rxc2 is deadly) Bf6+ 24 Kb1 Qc3 25 Kd1, but then I noticed that the game ended in a draw. A piece down, it seems that a draw by repetition is the best Black can hope for. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | alshatranji: The really "insane" puzzle was at move 22, when White should have won with Ng5. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: The first move was pretty obvious, to get ahead of a White Bb3. But after that I overlooked White's ability to interpose at b7, and overestimated Black's attack accordingly. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | mayankk06: I misread it as White to play and win. After that I had innovative ideas to mate the Black King by sacrificing the h3 Knight in some way, sacrificing the h1 Rook next at h7 and then bringing the White Queen to h5 for mate. In a parallel universe, maybe. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | jrredfield: I tried and tried to find a win for Black before seeing that it was a draw, then I gave up. I considered the text move but was very unsure. Komodo Dragon shows the text move as the only hope for Black, resulting in a draw. Any other move dooms Black quickly. |
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Sep-11-22
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Saw the first three and knew that variation would prove correct. In real life, would have played the game line and found myself quite surprised to discover that White can force a draw. 6/7 this week; flubbed Thursday, which happens a lot. Incidentally, 9...Nxg5 does not appear in the Opening Explorer. Curious. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | Teyss: First I thought it was an easy Sunday with 22...Rxb2+ 23.Kxb2 Ba3+ 24.Kb1 Rb8+ 25.Bb3 Qc3?? threatening Qb2# 
click for larger view Of course 26.Rd8+ idiot. And you also missed 25.Rb7, you twit. Then couldn't find a solution, was a bit annoyed but not too much, after all it is Sunday. Then looked at the game, was annoyed with the puzzle. But actually it's an interesting save by Black. Went through most of the lines, it's smart moves to reach a draw notably 23...Bf6+ to keep control of d8, 25...e3! and 26...e2+! No need to show them, <agb2002> and <TheaN> will do this much better. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | Teyss: Just one line to save our friends a bit of work: what if White doesn't take the Rook? 23.Ka1 Qc3 24.Qd4 saves White, right? 
click for larger view No. 24...Bf6! 25.Qxc3 Bxc3 26.a4 (forced) Rfb8 27.Rd8+ (forced) Rxd8 and Black can either reload with Rdb8 or win the B with discover check. 
click for larger view Black just needs to be a bit careful, for instance if 28.Ng5, not Rdb8?? 29.Rxh7# but simply 28...Rb5+ and Rxg5, better than 28...Rb4+ and Rxc4 because of 30.Nf7+. The more I look at it, the more I like the puzzle. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | goodevans: Like everyone else here, I saw the first few moves but couldn't find a win. The possibilities after 25...Qa1+ 26.Kd2 Bc3+ had my head in a spin so I gave up. Even though the first few moves were obvious, this puzzle lived up to its "insane" billing. <alshatranji> is right. There was another great puzzle here, though maybe more a Friday level than a Sunday "insane". 
click for larger view22.? - White to play and win. |
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Sep-11-22
 | | scormus: 22 ... Rxb2+ 23 Kxb2 f6+ etc. I really thought there should be direct win here and I was missing it. And I thought B must have missed it too.
But no, SF replicates the text and calls it drawn right from 22 ...
OK, it is Sunday after all.
An instructive puzzle |
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| Sep-11-22 | | ndg2: So the "insane" must be, that it's a draw and not a win for black ?!? |
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| Sep-11-22 | | mel gibson: I chose the text move but I didn't see
that it was a draw.
Stockfish 15 says it's a draw.
22... Rxb2+
(22. .. Rxb2+ (♖b8xb2+ ♔b1xb2
♗e7-f6+ ♔b2-b1 ♕e3-c3 ♔b1-c1 e4-e3 ♔c1-d1 e3-e2+ ♔d1xe2 ♖f8-e8+ ♔e2-d1 ♕c3-a1+ ♔d1-d2 ♕a1-c3+) 0.00/57 111) score 0.00 = a draw. |
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Sep-11-22
 | | chrisowen: Jump hoof disguise it is a Rxb2+ dip nill coffin I leeway it is awooga job ha it adept net it afford position u Rxb2+ flubb. :( |
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| Sep-11-22 | | TheaN: <Teyss: Went through most of the lines, it's smart moves to reach a draw notably 23...Bf6+ to keep control of d8, 25...e3! and 26...e2+! No need to show them, <agb2002> and <TheaN> will do this much better.> Surprisingly, all the moves mentioned are not required or for different reasoning: Bf6 is not necessarily to keep tabs on d8 and the e-pawn isn't required at all. Side note, <mel gibson> unfortunately spoiled this one for me: I was just about to post on yesterday's puzzle when you posted for this one there. Slip of the finger I guess, shame I saw the first move. Having said that, <22....Rxb2+> is absolutely not a surprise. <23.Kxb2> declining makes no sense <23....Bf6+!> the key here isn't to keep d8 covered (I mean, welcome addition) but to add Qa1# to the threats and prevent Qd4. This voids any external defense after <24.Kb1 Qc3>, so <25.Kc1> is forced. Here, I went wrong. Indeed pushing for a win, <25....Qa1+ 26.Kd2> is fine, but then Black has to play 26....Bc3+! = first with some play, but I played 26....Qxh1? 27.Qxe4 +- straight away. Of course, again, after the played moves Black can reconsider on move 25. I did however never considered including the e-pawn in the attack. Interesting end nonetheless. The chain of moves up to move 25 is forced to stay in the game, there Black can play for a win with Qa1+ with Bc3+!, e3 amounts to an almost instant draw offer and anything else loses. I'd like to the emphasis how tricky the line 25....Qa1+ 26.Kd2 Bc3+! 27.Ke3 Qxh1 is:
click for larger view
Black's still a piece down but has all the threats and it's really White whom should be cautious. For example, 28.Rd8? loses to 28....Qc1+ 29.Kxe4 Qe1+ 30.Kd3 Qd2+ 31.Ke4 Qxg2+, and with Pg2 gone Nh3 and Rd8 will soon fall to forks too. Any slow move will allow Black to continue the mating attack. I think only 28.Rf7! = draws so White can hide behind the rook: 28....Qe1+ 29.Kf4 Qh4+ 30.g4 Rg8 = and the craziness could continue for a while. I get Black might not have wanted to walk into this but it would have made an interesting game. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | thegoodanarchist: I must say, I enjoyed immensely this clever little drawing combination. Hope you did too! |
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| Sep-11-22 | | agb2002: Black is one knight down.
White threatens Rxe7.
The first idea that comes to mind is 22... Rxb2+ 23.Kxb2 (23.Ka1 Bf6 wins) 23... Bf6+ 24.Kb1 Qc3 25.Kc1 e3 26.Kd1 Qa1+ 27.Ke2 Qxh1 but Black hasn't recovered all the material and has lost the attack since the white queen dominates the board (protects g2 and is ready to attack the black king) and the knight controls g1 and f2. An improvement is 26... e2+ to open the e-file for the rook: A) 27.Bxe2 Qa1+ 28.Kd2 Qc3+ draws at least.
B) 27.Kxe2 Re8+ 28.Kd1 (28.Kf1 Qe1#; 28.Kf2 Qe3+ 29.Kf1 Qe1#; 28.Qe6 Qxc4+ wins) 28... Qa1+ 29.Kd2 Qc3+ as above. Instead of 25... e3 Black can try to chase the white king with 25... Qa1+ 26.Kd2 Bc3+: A) 26.Ke2 Qxh1 (threatens Qe1#)
A.1) 27.Qxe4 Qe1+ 28.Kd3 Qd2#.
A.2) 27.Ke3 Qe1+ 28.Be2 Qg3+ 29.Kxe4 Re8+ 30.Kf5 Re5+ wins. B) 26.Ke3 Qxh1
B.1) 27.Qxe4 Qe1+ 28.Be2 (28.Kd3 Qd2#) 28... Qc1+ and mate next. B.2) 27.Kxe4 Qxg2+ and 28... Qxh3 looks winning. B.3) 27.Nf4 Qc1+ followed by 28... Qxf4 looks very good for Black. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | Teyss: <TheaN> You're right on both accounts: keeping control of d8 is not very relevant if Black doesn't play Rb8+ (as I initially tried) and 26....Bc3 creates threats while keeping drawing possibilities, although it's more complex for both sides. Didn't see it at all, don't know if Black saw it and preferred an almost immediate draw, being outranked in Elo, or didn't either. I still think 25...e3 and 26...e2+ are pretty, though. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | mel gibson: <Side note, <mel gibson> unfortunately spoiled this one for me: I was just about to post on yesterday's puzzle when you posted for this one there. Slip of the finger I guess, shame I saw the first move.> Sorry - I was looking at the replies from yesterday and posted in the wrong place.
I quickly deleted it and posted here. opps. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | agb2002: <Teyss:... No need to show them, <agb2002> and <TheaN> will do this much better.> I missed 28.Rf7 (pointed out by <TheaN>) and made quite a few numbering mistakes. Let's see next week. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | gofer: As it is a Sunday, I took my time, puts the bits on the board and tried to find the
best solution for black. I got the first few moves 22 ... Rxb2+
23 Kxb2 Bf6+
24 Kb1 Qc3
25 Kc1 ...
...and then I went down a slightly different path 25 Qa1+
26 Kd2 Bc3+
27 Ke3 Qxh1
... to reach here...
click for larger viewI thought this was actually quite difficult position to defend for white. There seemed to be lots of mistakes white could make. But Stockfish thinks its a dead draw... ...so no prize today. I think you had to realise you were playing for a draw to get any credit... |
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| Sep-11-22 | | King.Arthur.Brazil: I guess that many will find the deadly attack starts with 22...♖xb2+, since the simple line leads to check-mate: 23. ♔xb2 ♗f6+ 24. c3 ♕xc3+ 25. ♔b1 ♕b2#. The option is: 24. ♔b1 ♕c3 which threat mate in two places ♕a1# and ♕b2#. Therefore, ♔c1 is forced. But I only found the line: 25...e3 26. ♔d1 ♕a1+ 27. ♔e2 ♕xh1. Is that enough to win? Let's check out what I missed. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | King.Arthur.Brazil: My God: perpetual check... I missed to see the score... lgs. |
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Sep-11-22
 | | Jimfromprovidence: Another interesting position is after 25.. Qb2+.
click for larger viewI thought black would win this by chasing the king to the other side of the board. Black can do this but I was dead wrong about the result. White to play and win. |
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| Sep-11-22 | | sp12: SHouldn't this work?
23....Qa3+ 24. Kb1 Bf6
threatening to mate with Rb8+.
If White blocks with Rb7 or Bb5 or Qb5, then
25. Rb7(or Bb5/Qb5) Qc3 threatening mate on Qa1
26.Kc1 e3. (threatening mate with Qa1+ followed by Bb2+)
26a. Rb1 Bd4... which leads to black advantage
26b. Qd3 Qa1+ 27.Rb1 Bb2+ 28.Kd1 Qxb1+ followed by Qxh1 etc leading to black advantage... |
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| Sep-11-22 | | TheaN: <mel gibson: <Side note, <mel gibson> unfortunately spoiled this one for me: I was just about to post on yesterday's puzzle when you posted for this one there. Slip of the finger I guess, shame I saw the first move.> Sorry - I was looking at the replies from yesterday and posted in the wrong place. I quickly deleted it and posted here. opps.> Don't worry, it was a silly mistake and I managed to scroll down the page <right there and then>... I actually thought it was quite funny I managed to catch you mispost that as it was gone the minute or so after :> |
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