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| Jan-29-14 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: This was harder for me than it should have been, because I miscounted material and was insufficiently impressed with lines in which Black won White's queen. Anyhow, 14 ... Re3 is a nasty mate threat, with lines like: 14 ... Re3
15 (Twiddles thumbs) Rh3+
16 gxh3 Qh2#
14 ... Re3
15 g3 Qh2#
14 ... Re3
15 Bxe3 Nxe3
16 Rg1 Qh4#
The one way I can find for White to stave off mate is: 14 ... Re3
15 Bxe3 Nxe3
16 Nf4 Nxd1
17 R(either)xd1
That leaves Black with a decent material advantage: queen and pawn for rook and knight. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | morfishine: "Roger Wilke, Over and Out"
After ruling out 14...Qh4+ (due to 15.Kg1 Qh2+ 16.Kf1 Qh1+ 17.Ng1) I saw that the deal sealer is <14...Re3> The primary threat is 15...Rh3+ 16.gxh3 Qh2#
After <15.Bxe3 Nxe3> Black threatens mate at g2, attacks the White Queen (and also attacks the White Bishop) There is no defense. The hopelessness of White's position is clearly evident: 16.Rg1 is answered by 16...Qh4#; and 16.Nf4 Nxd1 17.Raxd1 Qxf4 is completely winning for Black ***** |
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Jan-29-14
 | | Once: Let's talk about sheepdogs. It's an old English rural pastime - blokes with curly sticks would whistle at monochrome dogs who would in turn bully sheep around obstacles and into pens. The strange thing about this particular competitive sport is that the shepherd is keeping the sheep balanced neatly between a primeval fear and stoopid forgetfulness. It works something like this. The dawg approaches the sheep quietly (known as the outrun). The sheep can see the dog, but he stays just far enough away that they don't get spooked. Ideally they should stand there gently chewing the cud. Then the dog walks slowly towards the sheep. At this moment, a weird thing happens. The sheep think "it's a wooluff" (aka wolf for those not old enough to remember the cartoon). Their primeval instincts kick in. Wolf means danger, wolf means death, wolf means that lamb is on the menu. So the their natural sheepish instinct is to run away, not being blessed with any other defensive or offensive capabilities. But the sheepdog/ wolf has approached slowly. So in the sheep's dim brain it's only half a threat. The sheep start to walk away at a leisurely pace. It's a wolf, but only a bit of one. If the sheep start to stampede, the shepherd whistles a command for the sheepdog to lie down. And this (usually) makes the sheep think that the wolf has gone away, so they stop running. Repeat to herd the sheep wherever you want to go. Make a threat (it's a wolf!), the sheep start to move away. Remove the threat by getting the dog to lie down and the sheep instantly think that everything's okay again. People often say that sheepdogs are the cleverest dogs in the world. The reality is that sheep are the dumbest animal in the world, forever being spooked and then forgetting why they've just been spooked. You might have thought that one of them would work it out one day: "You know something, Ethel. We keep seeing that wolf behind us. I think we should get the flock out of here." That's how today's puzzle works. Black keeps making lupine threats to push white along a bit: 14...Re3 (threatens Rh3+ followed by Qh2#)
15. Bxe3 Nxe3 (threatens Qxg2#)
16. Rg1 Qh4# (threatens a kebab along the h file with Qxh1). That'll do, boy. Good boy.
Hmmm ... do I detect a pattern for the week? Threats that can't be answered? |
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| Jan-29-14 | | stacase: Yeah, but does it work on cats?
Yes, I got it, I did see that Black's Rook could make its way to the h file to support the mate. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | TheaN: Wednesday 29 January 2014
<14....?>
Black's dominance in the center and on the kingside is reaching a boiling point, cause in mere moves white will fortify his exposed king and win being two pieces up. The chain of checks will not bring black victory, as the e2-Knight can interpose at g1; black has to reload now in order to allow the combination to succeed. The e8-Rook is the only piece feasible to reload. Annoyingly for black, all squares on the e-file are covered by white, as a stormram coming from the queen side. Only one square is remotely weak, and this is where black should strike. <14....Re3!> the threat is 15....Rh3+! 16.gxh3 Qh2#. Declining the rook is not an option to avoid mate; 15.g3 Qh2#, and any knight move allows 15....Rxe1+ and soon mate. <15.Bxe3 Nxe3!> black has the option to play 15....Qh4+?! 16.Kg1 Qh2+ 17.Kf1 Nxe3+ 18.Kf2, but this is a tricky position. White is exposed and will lose the queen, but this will go at the expense of a rook and a piece. All other pieces of black are still immobilized, so this is not immediately decided. After Nxe3 however, the situation is different. Due to the Qxg2# threat, white has no time to safe the queen; the only way to avoid mate reasonably is to defend g2 with the knight. <16.Nf4 Nxd1 17.Raxd1> the rook on e1 is also en prise so white has to recapture on d1. <17....Qxf4  > now, black has won the queen for a rook. Although black is still inactive, he has enough resources (queen checks, creating an escape square for the king) to develop his pieces and win the game. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | TheaN: I was not completely sure, but I think I got the majority of the combination covered. For what it is worth, I did notice 16.Rg1 Qh4#, I should have mentioned that. The nasty part for white in this position is that the e1 rook is also weak after the queen goes; otherwise attacking the black queen with 17.Nh3 would allow another tempo to capture on d1. Alas, 17....Qxe1+ decides on the spot. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | woody b: like many of you, i had quite a hard time to find a way to get the rook into play.
i saw the fork on e3 soon enough, but it took me long to see that Re3 threatens Rh3 and mate! glad i got it after all |
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| Jan-29-14 | | gofer: "It's just a jump to the left!"...
14 ... Qh4+
15 Kg1 Qh2+
16 Kf1 Qh1+
17 Ng1 Nh2+
18 Kf2 Rxe1
19 Qxe1 ...
Perhaps
"Then a step to the Re3ght?"...
<14 ... Re3!>
White has to take due to the threat of 15 ... Rh3+ 16 gxh3 Qh2# and due to the only other defence 15 Ng1 loses quickly 15 ... Qh4+ 16 Nh3 Rxh3 17 gxh3 Qxh3+ mating <15 Bxe3 Nxe3>
<16 Nf4 Nxd1>
<17 Raxd1 Qxf4>
When the dust settles black has Q+R+B+N against 2R+B+N. ~~~
Yep... |
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Jan-29-14
 | | agb2002: Black has a pawn for a bishop.
The prosaic 14... Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Qh2+ doesn't seem to achieve much. Another idea is to incorporate the rook into the attack via e3, 14... Re3, threatening 15... Rh3+ 16.gxh3 Qh2#: A) 15.Bxe3 Nxe3 16.Nf4 (16.Rg1 Qh4#) 16... Nxd1
A.1) 17.Raxd1 Qxf4 - + [Q+P vs R].
A.2) 17.Rf1 Qh4+ and 18... Nxc6 - + [Q+P vs R].
A.3) 17.Nd3 Qh4+ and 18... Nxc6 - + [Q+P vs R].
B) 15.Ng1 (or 15.Nf4) 15... Rxe1 - +.
C) 15.Qd3 Qxe1+, etc. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | whiteshark: Just as sunlight embodies all the colors of the rainbow, this combination reflects the incredibly beautiful and diverse range of chess. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | mistreaver: Wednsday. Black to play. MEdium/Easy. 14...?
After looking at the position for quite some time, the only winning attempt i could think of was:
14... Re3!
With the idea:
A)
15 Bxe3 Qh4+
16 Kg1 Qh2+
17 Kf1 Ne3+
18 Kf2 Nxd1
or
B)
15 Ng1 Qh4+
16 Nh3 Rxh3+
17 gxh3 Qxh3+
and mate in two.
Time to check.
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Oh i forgot that Ne3 also attack the white queen and that with first taking on e3 he also captures the knight on f4 later on. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: Whoops -- my material counting problems were even worse than I thought. I forgot that the White DSB is gone, and hence the f4 knight is hanging. Well, at least I got the right continuation for the right reasons. :) |
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| Jan-29-14 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: I think <Sastre> is right that 11 Kg3 works for White. Key point: It's hard for Black to get and keep his queen in the attack against d4, Bd3 and Rh1. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | czxcjx: Hmm... I want to check on the h-file. It turns out I have a rook lift. Let's see... Re6? No. Re5? No. Re4? No. Re3. Hmm! Turns it it threatens mate Qh2# after the rook sacs itself on h3. Bxe3 fails to Nxe3. Rg1? Qh4#! Cute. Nf4 fails as well, since the queen AND the knight are both hanging. (Thanks, Bd7). Also, nobody seems to have mentioned 15. Nf4, so I shall state that it loses badly. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | Stormbringer: Chalk me up as an h4+er.
Not having a good week, the whole search and search for something, anything that looks good I keep falling into chessgames' trap of taking the first bait and not finding the better move. |
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Jan-29-14
 | | Penguincw: Ooh. I was thinking of 14...Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Qh2+ 16.Kf1 Qh1+ but 17.Ng1 saves the day. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | DrGridlock: There are three winning lines for Black at move 14: Qh4+, Re3, and Ba4. In the Qh4 lines dismissed above, try 14 ... Qh4+, 15 Kg1 Re3 (the move works now, as in the direct combination). For the truly innovative, ... Ba4, either directly or after Qh4+ also cripples the White army. 14 ... Re3 is the quickest, but not the only winning option for Black. In my own thinking, I looked at the 14 ... Qh4 line first, and saw the knight imposition if black checks directly with the queen on h2 and h1. I then found that black could move his rook up to e3 before the queen checks on h1 and h2, that this line won, and I stopped searching. If the rook move proceeds the queen move, the victory is slightly quicker and more direct. Sometimes it pays to keep searching, even after you've found the win. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | destroyid: So I think I found a sweet and simple one...
Qh4+ , Kg1 , NF2 GG |
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| Jan-29-14 | | BOSTER: " Delay brings delight."
My guess that
Tal would play 14...Nc6! |
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| Jan-29-14 | | Patriot: Black is up a pawn for a piece.
Black could draw with 14...Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Qf2+. Or 14...Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Qh2+ 16.Kf1 Qh1+ 17.Ng1 and I'm not sure what black can do here. 14...Re3 looks very interesting but seems a very difficult move to find for a "medium/easy" problem. This threatens 15...Rh3+ 16.gxh3 Qh2#. 15.Bxe3 Nxe3 threatens queen and mate. I don't see a defense. 15.Nf4 Rxe1+ . |
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Jan-29-14
 | | FSR: <17...Re3!> threatening 18...Rh3+! 19.gxh3 Qh2# looks extremely strong. <18.Bxe3> (18.Nf4? Rxe1+ forces mate; 18.Ng1 Qh4+ 19.Nh3 Rxh3+ forces mate) <Nxe3> (threatening Qxg2#) <19.Nf4> (19.Rg1 Qh4#) <Nxd1 20.Rxd1 Qxf4> and wins. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: I don't understand the move order of putting Qh4+ before Re3, because I don't know why White would have to accept the rook. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | BOSTER: Double elimination is the idea 14...Nc6.
Notice that rook e1 and knights can not move. |
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| Jan-29-14 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: I hope nobody is suggesting Nc6 as more than a joke. dxc6 opens up Bxf7+ as well as cxd7, and by the way Kxf7 at the wrong time for Black could get his queen pinned. <Boster> is right about the semi-Zugschwang, however -- Rxe2 would win for Black if White didn't have another knight available for the recapture. |
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Jan-29-14
| | FSR: Of course 11.Kg3! was forced (instead of 11.Kg1?? ), when Houdini 3 gives as best play 11...h5 12.f4 h4+ 13.Kf3 Re8 14.g3 Nh2+ 15.Kg2 Nxf1 16.Qxf1 b5 17.Bb3 b4 18.Nd1 Bb5 19.Ne3 with approximate equality. It is naive to think that the king is always safer on g1. All of the possible king moves must be considered, and sometimes, as here, g3 is markedly better than g1. |
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sac: 9...Bxh2+