Feb-28-17 Rublevsky vs Navara, 2007 
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| MaczynskiPratten: I feel White made more of a meal of this than he needed to. 22 Rxf7+ is fine but 26 Qc4+ looks like an error; suddenly Black hides his King and White has to go on the defensive with 27 Rb1. I was expecting 26 Rb8 when, with 2 connected passed pawns, the Queen ending looks ... |
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Jan-31-17 S Schweber vs Spassky, 1955
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| MaczynskiPratten: <al wazir><abdel irada><scormus> Similarly, I think it was Spielmann who once said of Alekhine, "I can see the same combinations as him, but I can't get into the same positions". |
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Jan-23-17 K Pan vs I Mjatezs, 2016
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| MaczynskiPratten: Qxh7+ is more spectacular, but Rh5 maybe more sadistic as it lets Black look desperately for some way out. To no avail. |
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Jan-16-17 L Machado vs K McDonald, 2016
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| MaczynskiPratten: And, in my view, a particularly pretty example. More commonly the epaulette mate is seen as the Q on f6, which would work here were it not for the P on g7. Using the R on f7 is more material-efficient. |
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Dec-20-16 H Walkerling vs Hanssen, 1928
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| MaczynskiPratten: It also feels non-intuitive that the Black Queen can have no safe escape square out of the 8 on offer (plus a1 itself). But all 9 are covered by White's four minor pieces - the Knights side by side and the Bishops on their starting squares. A pleasing symmetry! |
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Dec-12-16 Mayet vs Harrwitz, 1848
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| MaczynskiPratten: Monday, queen sac day, but for a change in situ and no mate |
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Dec-06-16 I Bahgat vs Rodolfo Cardoso, 1957
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| MaczynskiPratten: Good spoiler. Caught me hook, line and sinker. This looks like it's going to be a tough week. I checked moves like 24..Ne5 and Nb4 but missed Qxg2+ :( At least I'm in some very good company! |
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Nov-08-16 Blackburne vs J G Witton, 1885
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| MaczynskiPratten: This was a Monday puzzle originally and that seems right to me - "tweazy"? Reckon you need to find 32 Qc4+ to get full marks. |
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Nov-07-16 W Polifka vs Matthew Evans, 2005
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| MaczynskiPratten: I do like <Once>'s terminology of the Squished Roadkill variation of the Hedgehog defence. Lol, as they say. |
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Oct-26-16 M Sion Castro vs Vyzmanavin, 1993
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| MaczynskiPratten: Very interesting. I didn't find the game line fully convincing, with just two minor pieces for a rook. Instead I was looking at 32..Qc1, with the aim of mating on f1 but White gets there first with Qd8+ and Qxf6+. Then I looked at 32..Qd2, which stops Qd8+ and threatens ... |
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Kibitzing