| Feb-08-07 | | franksp: Nice finish. The Queen is almost trapped but saving it leads to loss of other material as in the game or by 20.... Qxa5 21. Qxd6+ Ke8 22. Qxb8+ etc. |
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| Jan-30-15 | | poorthylacine: And however there was an unbelievable saving move after 20.Nf3? (better was20.Nb3 and White must win):
20...Qxc3+!! (a study like move!) and after 21.bxc3 Ba3+! 22.Kc2 Rb2+ and its a perpetual!! |
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| Oct-20-22 | | NBZ: Alas, <poorthylacine> who spotted this beautiful queen sac that became a puzzle does not seem to visit CG anymore. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | Brenin: Down by 2P and with his K exposed in the centre, Black can force a draw with 20 ... Qxc3+ 21 bxc3 (21 Kb1 Qxb2 mate) Bxa3+ 22 Kc2 or Kd2 Rb2+ 23 Kc1 Rb3+ 24 Kc2 Rb2+. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | Brenin: However, not the over-ambitious 23 ... Re2+ 24 Kb1 Rb8+ 25 Bb6 or 24 ... exf3+ 25 Ka1, and the White K escapes the checks. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | mayankk06: I saw the 20... Qxc3+ idea since Black is pretty much in a desperate situation and needs radical ideas. After 21 bxc3 Ba3+, I thought Black would win by either 22 Kc2 exf3+ 23 Bd3 Rb2+ or 22 Kd2 Rhd8+ Ke2 and then some combination of checks and exf3. However I couldn't make it fully work and then was surprised to see that it just led to a draw. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | mel gibson: I saw the Queen sac - but didn't see it was a draw. Stockfish 15 says:
(20. .. Qxc3+ (♕e5xc3+ b2xc3 ♗d6-a3+ ♔c1-d2 ♖b8-b2+ ♔d2-c1)
0.00/58 21)
score = a draw.
When Black resigns after 21. Bc5 -
Stockfish 15 says:
21. Bc5 Ne4
(♘f6-e4 ♗c5xd6+ ♔e7-f6 ♗d6xe5+ ♔f6-g5 h3-h4+ ♔g5xh4
♕c6xg6 ♘e4-g3 ♖e1-h1+ ♘g3xh1 ♖d1xh1+) -M6/167 31 White wins _mate in 6 |
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Oct-20-22
 | | raymondhow: After the Queen sac, instead of perpetual I was considering 23...Rb6+ winning back the Q apparently with attack, however after 24.Kc2 Rxc6 25.Ne5 turns the tables. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | jrredfield: My gut told me that 20 ... exf3 would be a big mistake, but I didn't see White's mating net clearly enough, and chose 20 ...Qxa5. That results in a mate in 7 for White, as does the text move. I never considered 20 ...Qxc3+ but see from more analysis and comments already posted here why that's the only way for Black to stay alive. |
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Oct-20-22
 | | agb2002: Black is two pawns down.
White threatens Nxe5.
The first idea that comes to mind is 20... Qxc3+ 21.bxc3 (21.Kb1 Qxb2#) 21... Ba3+ 22.Kd(c)2 Rb2+ 23.Kc1 Rb6+ 24.Kd2 Rb2+ with perpetual check at least. The attempt to win material with 24... Rxc6, with the double threat Rxc4 and exf3, looks bad after 25.Ba2 exf3 26.Bc5+ Kd7 27.Bxa3. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | mikealando: Wow that Qsac would have listed as one of the great swindles. Something out of nothing. I only saw it via Stockfish before reading the comments. |
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Oct-20-22
 | | scormus: 20 exf3? I wasn't expecting that, surely loses immediately. And it did. ... Qxc3+ must be the move. I thought there'd be a win, but couldn't see it. Had to be content with the draw, which seems all there was |
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| Oct-20-22 | | Prosperus: 20...Qxc3+ 21. bxc3 Ba3+ 22. Kc2 exf3+ 23. Kd2 Rb2+ 24. Kc1 Re2# |
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| Oct-20-22 | | goodevans: In a 'must win' situation, after <20...Qxc3+ 21.bxc3 Ba3+ 22.Kd2 Rb2+ 23.Kc1 Rb6+ 24.Kd2> Black might try to keep the game alive with <24...Rxc6>. Just a pawn down and with two White pieces en prise he might think he had chances but unfortunately for him <25.Ne5 Rd6+ 26.Kc2 Be8 27.Ra1> traps his poor bishop. Of course, after <24.Kc2> he would even get that far since <24...Rxc6 25.Ne5> wins outright. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | goodevans: <Prosperus> Pretty though that mate might be, on move 23 in your line White can get out of check by interposing either B or R. If White correctly chooses <23.Rd3> then he creates a flight square on d1 so Black no longer even has the draw in hand (23...Rb2+ 24.Kd1 Rb1+ 25.Bc1+ with mate to follow). |
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| Oct-20-22 | | Lambda: Seeing the perpetual is enough really without needing to wonder if there's better than that available, since everything else is bad. OTB, I think you play Rb6+ and then think about whether you have anything better than returning to b2 with an updated board in front of you. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | stacase: My personal rule is, If I don't get the 1st move I don't post. But since the 1st move, 20.Nf3exf3 loses . . . Well anyway, I did see 20...Qxc3+ but I didn't see it all the way to any mate. But it's real close. Close of course, only counts in hand grenades and thermonuclear war (-: Yes I would have played 20...Qxc3+ over the board. Snatching victory from the jaws of your opponent always gets top consideration. |
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Oct-20-22
 | | chrisowen: I branch its homily juvenile exf3 abridge axled its Qxc3+ arrived
its odd flinch a bug lag Io no alright key it sign its cad I exf3 choose Qxc3+ flick? |
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Oct-20-22
 | | steinitzfan: If this puzzle was stated as Black to play and draw, it would be easy. What's hard is seeing that candidate winning lines go nowhere. The temptation to bring that other rook or other bishop into play with tempo is very strong. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | Refused: 20...Qxc3+ 21.bxc Ba3+ 22.Kc2 Rb2+ is at least a draw. Given the poor coordination of the black position (the king in the center) and the two minus pawns I'd take that in a heartbeat). |
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Oct-20-22
 | | ClassZPlaya: Not a good day for me. Not only did I forget that the Black Queen is hanging in the puzzle position, but I also missed that even if the Nf3 were somewhere else irrelevant that my move 20 ... Ba3?! fails simply to 21. Bd4. I did see the 20 ... Qxc3+ idea (was trying to prepare it and make it even stronger with 20 ... Ba3) so hopefully my Chess vision is not yet damaged beyond all repair. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | Halldor: I went for 20... Qxc3† as many, and it was a pleasure to work out various continuations. I was satisfied when I had rather good positions and didn’t go any further. However, I don’t think I solved the puzzle, I was too optimistic — as always…, thought I had a winning position; should have gone deeeper. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | TheaN: Hah. Wasn't convinced I found a winning line, but decided to play <20....Qxc3+ 21.bxc3 Ba3+ 22.Kc2 Rb2+ 23.Kc1 => and see from there. Seems like there's not much to see, it's a perpetual and that's it. The pitfalls are many though: first off, Kc2 seems like a huge mistake due to exf3+, but with both open files towards his king, Black can't exactly lay back and still needs the perpetual. Rb6+ with Rxc6 fails for the same reasons. Trying Rxf2+ to flank attack the queen side, the White king simply slides over and #10, which seems ridiculous as Black has initiative... yet gets mated in ten. Bizarre position, all things considered. |
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| Oct-20-22 | | TheaN: I always baffles me a bit how certain ideas are met and/or thought of in the early 20th century (or earlier). At move 11, the game is even. White plays 11.Qb3 to cut off the king side castle even more and put pressure on the queen side. Not the best move but it accomplishes a few things. Black can safely play 11....O-O-O!:
click for larger view
This puts questions to the White king's safety, the center's under fire but the king side is already loosely defended due to the half open f-file. And of course, 12.Bxa7? e3 -+ is absolutely crushing. Yet, Black decided to play 11....c6 and lost track fast from there. |
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Oct-22-22
 | | fredthebear: Good point <TheaN>. Stockfish wanted White to insert Qa4+. This one left the books early with 5...Nxe5? Certainly seems logical enough, but one should consider development, putting two vs one, etc.
Opening Explorer Lots of games seem to be missing from this database in all openings. I was off-the-scene for a few months this summer. Does anybody know what types of games were removed from the database? |
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Kibitzing
sac: 20.Nf3
icon.