| Feb-13-04 | | ughaibu: Geller had a plus score against him so he must've been world championship level. |
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| Feb-13-04 | | Benjamin Lau: Lol ughaibu, that's an interesting argument... |
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Jun-15-15
 | | Honza Cervenka: In very complex and sharp position white collapsed tactically after the 30th move. He could have played 30. Ne4! Rb8 31. Ng5! Rxb6 32. Bd5+ Kf8 33. Ne6+ Ke8 34. Nxg7+ Nxg7 35. f5 Qf6 36. Qc3 Qxc3 37. bxc3 Kf8 38. Bc4 Bxc4 39. Rxb6 Ngxf5 with two Rooks against three minor pieces and extra Pawn, which looks still viable for white. Excellent game by Geller. |
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| Jun-12-22 | | Brenin: Hmm..., a second POTD, less than an hour after the first one was posted? At least this one isn't recycled, unlike most this week. However, it's already well past my bedtime, so I'll leave it for the morning. |
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Jun-12-22
 | | raymondhow: Hmm, maybe my comment on the first POTD made them change it. Went wrong on this one with 25...Nxf4. |
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Jun-12-22
 | | OhioChessFan: I gave up on this and just appreciate how good GMs are. |
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| Jun-12-22 | | mel gibson: I wasn't sure what to do.
I would have played 25...Rxf5.
which gives White a score of +3.45 so my choice is wrong.Stockfish 15 says it's close to a draw:
25... Nxe3
(25. .. Nxe3 (♘d5xe3 ♕e2xe3 ♖a8-a7 ♖b1-d1 ♗d7xf5 ♗e4xf5 ♖f8xf5 ♕e3-e6+ ♖a7-f7 ♘f2-e4
c4-c3 b2xc3 ♖f5xf4 ♘d2-c4 ♕d8-d7 ♕e6xd7 ♖f7xd7 ♘e4xc5 ♖d7-c7 ♖e1-e8+ ♖f4-f8
♖e8xf8+ ♗g7xf8 ♖d1-g1+ ♔g8-h8 ♘c5-e6 ♖c7xc4 ♘e6xf8 ♖c4xc3 ♘f8-e6 ♖c3xa3
♖g1-f1 ♘c8-e7 ♖f1-f7 ♘e7-g6 ♖f7-d7 h7-h5 ♖d7xd6 h5-h4 ♖d6-a6 ♘g6-e5 ♘e6-d4
♔h8-g8 ♔h2-g1 ♖a3-g3+ ♔g1-f1 a4-a3 ♖a6-a8+ ♔g8-h7 ♖a8-a7+ ♔h7-g6 ♖a7-a6+
♔g6-g5 ♖a6-a5 ♖g3xh3 ♖a5xe5+ ♔g5-f4 ♖e5-a5 ♔f4-e4 ♖a5-a4 ♔e4-e5 ♔f1-f2
♖h3-c3 ♘d4-e2 ♖c3-c2 ♖a4xa3 h4-h3 ♔f2-g3 ♖c2-c4 ♖a3-a5+ ♔e5-d6) +0.30/50
244)
score for Black +0.30 depth 50.
When White resigns - it's mate in 24.
41. Kg2
(♔g1-g2 ♖f8-g8 ♕g3xg8+ ♔h8xg8 ♖b1-d1
♘f3-h4+ ♔g2-g3 ♘h4-f5+ ♔g3-f2 ♕h5-h2+ ♔f2-f3 ♕h2xb2 ♖d1-g1+ ♔g8-f7 ♘c3-e4
♕b2xa3+ ♔f3-g4 ♕a3-e3 ♔g4xf5 ♕e3-f3+ ♔f5-g5 ♕f3xe4 ♖g1-f1+ ♔f7-g8 ♖f1-f4
♕e4xf4+ ♔g5xf4 a4-a3 ♔f4-e3 a3-a2 ♔e3-d3 a2-a1♕ ♔d3-c4 h7-h5 ♔c4-b5 h5-h4
♔b5-c6 h4-h3 ♔c6-b6 h3-h2 ♔b6-c7 h2-h1♕ ♔c7-b6 ♕a1-a4 ♔b6-c7 ♕a4-c6+ ♔c7-b8
♕c6-b7+) -M24/45 384
White loses _ mate in 24. |
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Jun-12-22
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Yet another position where one has to decide whether or not to embark upon yet another speculative sacrifice. Back in my playing days, would have played the sac because the Knights and Bishops have excellent prospects. Weird week. Solved Sunday, flubbed the previous three. |
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Jun-12-22
 | | HeMateMe: It's just not going to be a fun middlegame when your king has been stripped of pawn cover. Sort of like being on the freeway without a car... |
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Jun-12-22
 | | agb2002: White threatens Bxd5+ and N(Q)xc4.
The only reasonable option seems to be 25... Nxe3, weakening the dark squares on White's field, 26.Bxa8 (26.Qxe3 Ra7 followed by an attack against the pawn on f5) 26... Nxf5 and Black has compensation for the material. For example, 27.Qxc4+ Kh8 28.Bg2 (due to Nb6) 28... Qh4 29.Kg1 Bd4 looks rather worrying for White. |
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Jun-12-22
 | | scormus: Yes, insane. For quite a while I thought W was winning. Only moves I could think of were 25 .... Nxe3 <Geller and SF> which I'd have played OTB, and ... Rxf5 <mel>, just because it is a puzzle. To be honest I didn't see how to make either of them win. Amaziing chess by Geller. |
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| Jun-12-22 | | Brenin: In my second POTD of the day I got the first few moves, as far as 27 ... Qh4 (maybe 27 ... Bb5 is better first, tying up White's N and Q?), and then gave up analysing as White seemed to have too many possibilities. In the game, 38 ... Qh5 seems a curious retreat, when the obvious 38 ... Rf1+ 39 Rxf1 Qxf1+ 40 Kh2 Nf3+ forces 41 Qxf3 Bxf3 with an easy win. Time trouble, no doubt. A great game to play through, though imperfect on both sides. |
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| Jun-12-22 | | Stanco: It's obvious to know the move here. Without listing the game I knew 22...Nd5 was the last move black made and that is in connection with capturing white's black square bishop with better pieces play after in the game.
True challenge was to find (or dare to play?!) 22...Nd5! |
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| Jun-12-22 | | Stanco: 24...Nd5* |
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Jun-12-22
| | Honza Cervenka: After some five minutes of thinking I have concluded that 25...Nxe3 is the best option. 25...Ncb6 or 25...Nce7 were also playable, 25...Bc6 26.Nxc4 looks bad for black at first glanc, and 25...Rxf5 26.Nxc4 leads nowhere. But 25...Nxe3 26.Bxa8 Nxf5 gives black great position with more than sufficient compensation for the Exchange, and 26.Qxe3 Ra7 27.Nxc4 Bd4 28.Qf3 Kh8 is also in favour of black, who has mighty Bishop pair, controls the centre, and is prepared to launch Kingside attack on open files. |
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| Jun-12-22 | | King.Arthur.Brazil: I found the majority of moves, but directly the King (me, you know) preferred 38...♖f1+ 39. ♖xf1 ♕xf1+ 40. ♔h2 ♘f3+ 41. ♕xf3 ♗xf3 I thought that it was faster. |
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Jun-12-22
 | | Jimfromprovidence: I was curious about 30...Kh8, below.
click for larger view
It looks like black was looking at 30...Bd4, double attacking the f knight, but had to avoid 31 Qb4+ so 30...Kh8 came first. |
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Jun-12-22
 | | RadioBoy: 38...Rf1+ 39. RxR QxR+ 40. Kh2 Nf3+ seems more forcing. |
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| Jun-26-22 | | Brenin: After a few minutes of thought I decided that Black could play 25 ... Nxe3, and would obtain an advantage if White accepted the exchange sacrifice with 26 Bxa8 Nxf5. Then I realised that we had seen this position two weeks ago. I think that everything that was needed to be said was said then, so I'm off to bed. |
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Jun-26-22
 | | ChessHigherCat: More of a game than a puzzle but with so many pieces on the board and such great players it was bound to be interesting. Not (m)any exclamation mark moves, though, except maybe the interference move 34...Bg3, where white can't play 35. NxB because of NxN+, which wins the Q. |
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| Jun-26-22 | | Besrqe: I agree with the previous posts that the focus of the puzzle position isn't trying to find a forced win, it's finding the best way to deal with the N on d5 and whether or not to allow White to play Bxa8. An interesting point in the game for me is going back a few moves to Black's 22nd move. You can see the pawn structure is rather interesting and both sides are a bit cramped. Both sides also only have 1 tangible pawn break between them: Black has ...b5 and White has g4. So, Black just went for it and even SF agrees, however the engine doesn't like the follow up. The other thing is 24...Nxd5 looks totally unnecessary. That d5 pawn is not only very weak and not going anywhere, it's one of those times where you want some fixed pawns in the center so you can go ahead with attacking on the flank. So, I was glad to see that SF liked the move I was thinking of, 24...Bxf5. However, at the same time, I think Geller can't be blamed for throwing some gasoline on the position with 24...Nxd5. The resulting positions got really spicy and he converted it into the full point. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 25...Nxe3