Jan-06-25
 | | takebackok: Looking good Monday, piece is a piece 20...Qxg2+ some work but this is an easy gg. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | King.Arthur.Brazil: It seems easy: 20...Qxg2+ 21. Kxg2 Nd4+ 22. Kg1 Nxc2 23. Rbc1 Bxe5 24. Bxe5 Nxa3 25. Ra1 Nb5 26. Rdb1 Bc6 ... Everybody likes Mondays in CG, I guess. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | Mayankk: First half of the puzzle is easy. Second half, not so much. After wasting a few minutes trying to make 20 ... Qxg2+ 21 Kxg2 Nxe5+ work, as in some cases Knight-Bishop combo can deliver mates, I was able to spot 21 ... Nd4+ instead. After 22 .. Nxc2, Black is temporarily up a Bishop but it is not straightforward to see that the c2 Knight can actually make it back safely. I assumed it will be, given its a Monday puzzle, so I took a look at the text. It is actually quite tricky. 23 Nxg6 threatens a fork, and after 23 ... Kf7 24 Nf4 Bxb2 25 Rxb2 Nxa3 26 Ra1, the Knight looks trapped. However Black has back rank mate and promotion tactics via 26 ... c4 which save him. This one deserved more time than a typical Monday. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | alshatranji: Winning the piece is quite easy. However, you should be careful with later moves, or the knight would be trapped. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | geeker: The combination to win a piece is not difficult, but it's then challenging to keep the piece and some long variations have to be considered. Tough for a Monday. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | mel gibson: Easy - win a piece with a fork. |
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Jan-06-25
 | | Korora: We all know Henny Youngman's punchline. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | Cecco: <geeker>, I agree.
<Korora>, I don't even know who he is, but I'm guessing the punchline is "bye, bye, birdie," or something like that. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | saturn2: The CG engine says 21....Nd4 is 3.79 and 21....Nb4 3.6. Who understands that? |
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Jan-06-25
 | | Teyss: <Mayankk> outlined it very well as usual. 1. See the Queen sac and discovery check. Monday alright. 2. Realise the Knight could be trapped. But aha, the e5 Knight is en prise.
(a) If it moves, ...Bxb2 and ...Nxa3. BTW if Nxg6 threatening Ne7, attack with the King.
(b) If e.g. Rdc1, ...Nxa3 and ...Bxe5.
Tuesday-Wednesday (cumulated with previous).
3. But then in 2.a. what happens after Ra1 still trapping the Knight? Oh, ...c4!
(a) If Rxa3, cxd3 and White will lose material to avoid promotion.
(b) If other, ...c3 followed by ...c2 and the Knight still cannot be captured.
Thursday-Friday (same comment).
Phew. But wait, what happens if 23.d4 protecting the e5 Knight and blocking the long diagonal? 
click for larger view Black has at least three options:
(a) The simple 23...Bxe5 24.dxe5 Be4.
(b) The tricky 23...c4! and if e.g. 24.Rdc1 c3! and if 25.Ba1, Nxa1.
(c) The simply tricky 23...Be4 and if 24.f3, Nxe3 25.fxe4 Nxd1 where White cannot recapture 26.Rxd1 because of ...Bxe5. |
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Jan-06-25
 | | scormus: I don't know why CG put this as a Monday puzzle. 20 ... Qxg2+ is simple enough, but the crucial point is to make sure the N isn't lost after 22 ... Nxc2. 26 ... c4 was the move B needed to find. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | mel gibson: OK - thought I'd better post the Stockfish 17 solution. 20. .. Qxg2+
(20. .. Qxg2+ (1. ... Qxg2+ 2.Kxg2 Nd4+ 3.Kh3 Nxc2 4.Nxg6 Bxb2
5.Rxb2 Nxa3 6.Ne7+ Kf7 7.Nxc8 Bxc8 8.Rb3 Nc4 9.Ra1 Na5 10.Rba3 Nc6 11.Rb1
Be6 12.Kg2 Ke7 13.f4 Rb8 14.Ra6 h5 ) +4.27/43 318) score for Black +4.27 depth 43. |
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Jan-06-25
| | Teyss: Hi saturn2,
The horizon effect. Both lines end up the same for us humans because we'll take the Queen for sure but since SF calculates everything each line ends at a different depth. It seems a bit paradoxical though because after 21....Nb4 the Knight has 6 squares vs 8 after 21....Nd4 so the analysis of the former should be deeper and give a better eval as Black is winning. Maybe some lines after 21....Nd4 are simpler and then SF goes deeper. Anyhow the gap is marginal. |
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Jan-06-25
 | | chrisowen: Fight joy its wu Qxg2+ its ae gog its hoh its adagio nug cog off Qxg2+ iffy; |
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Jan-06-25
| | chrisowen: Dams its ph its v links its rib c4 x |
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| Jan-06-25 | | TheaN: I kind of realized Black's calling the shots after <20....Qxg2+ 21.Kxg2 Nd4+ 22.Kh3 Nxc2 23.Nxg6 Kf7 -+> and didn't bother to analyze further because Monday. Black's up a piece and threatening one, in the event Black has to give up Nc2 it goes for some crucial pawns and Black should still be winning. I'd calculate 24.Nf4 Bxb2 -+ on a Thursday (at earliest, but it's a stretch) or later. Also, it's another example of 'only-move' differential: the Black queen only has two safe squares and the counterstrike Qxg2+. 20....Qxg2+! is -3, 20....Qe6? is 0, and 20....Qd6?? 21.Qc4+ is +3. What comes after Qxg2+ we'll see, but it's the only winning attempt. |
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Jan-06-25
 | | dorsnikov: The first few moves quite obvious. Got em. The others beyond my patzer mind. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | saturn2: <Teyss> well explained |
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Jan-06-25
| | Korora: <Cecco> It's "Take my wife -- Please!" "Bye bye birdie" is for rook sacs, since "rook" also means a type of crow. |
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| Jan-06-25 | | Rosbach: Got this 20...Qxg2+ 21. Kxg2 Nd4+ 22. Kg1 Nxc2 23. Nxg6 Kf7 24. Nf4 Bxb2 25. Rxb2 Nxa3 26. Ra1
but didn't see 26...c4. |
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Jan-06-25
 | | al wazir: 28. Rba2. Now what?
Material is even. If 28...c2, then 29. Rc1, and now if 29...Be4, then 30. Rxa3. Black can't promote the c-♙, and it looks as if white will eventually snap it up: 30...Rc7 31. Ng2 Rdc8 32. Ne1 b5 33. Kf1 b4 34. Rb3 a5 35. Ke2, etc. |
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| Jan-07-25 | | FM David H. Levin: <<al wazir>: 28. Rba2. Now what?> If this is based on the position reached after Black's 27th move in the game score, 28...Nb5 holds the a-pawn and leaves White a piece down. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 20...Qxg2+
