| Sep-10-06 | | khense: I found the first two moves, however I can't claim to have seen it all the way to the end. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | RandomVisitor: 18...bxc5 = . |
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Sep-10-06
 | | penarol: I thought 23 a6, with the idea of following: 24 a7, 25 Ba6 and 26 Bb7, but i did not see that 23...b5 prevents all this line. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | dzechiel: It took me five minutes (my screen saver kicked in), but I finally found the b5 followed by a6 idea and it was immediately clear that this was the only idea that was going to work. Everything else allowed black to use his connected pawns to stop all of white's progress. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | percyblakeney: I first saw a6 and then that it had to be prepared by b5 and followed by Nc3. It didn't feel impossible to come up with these moves in a real game even if I probably would have played something like Bd2 without thinking too much about it... |
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| Sep-10-06 | | aazqua: Finally a decent monday puzzle. The key is obviously the rook pawn, and the knight is the piece the most desparately needs to get into the action. Hence, clearance. Black gains a pawn but can't stop the passer. This looks like it could be a good week, c'mon Tuesday! |
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| Sep-10-06 | | EmperorAtahualpa: *sigh* Let's add <aazqua> to our troll list, guys. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | TheKid: What's the continuation after 32...Nc5? |
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| Sep-10-06 | | psmith: <TheKid> Uhhh... White makes Black take back the illegal move? Everyone else: But I am not at all clear on the solution as a forced win. I "saw" it as an idea but couldn't see why it was definitely preferable to some other moves. The game sequence certainly doesn't look to be all forced. I think this needs more study than has been given to it here. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | psmith: <The Kid> Perhaps you meant 31...Nc5. After 32. Ra3 or Ra2 Black has to defend against Nb5-c7 and Nd5-b6. It's impossible to hold off both threats, I think. Well, not quite impossible, there is 32. Ra3 Nb7 33. Nb5 Na5, but then 34. Rc3 followed by Rc7 and Nd6 is decisively better for White. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | psmith: OK, I am becoming convinced, thanks to Fritz 5.32. The key points seem to me to be these: after 23. b5 cxb5 Black's passed pawns are crippled and after 24. a6 Bc4 25. Bxc4 bxc4 Black has restored the connected passed pawns but separated them by two ranks, and also left the d5 square unprotected. Still the position deserves further analysis.
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| Sep-10-06 | | TheSlid: White's last move is rather amusing - presumably Karsa missed this. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | crwynn: since it was Sunday, I naturally thought of 23.Bb5 first, until I realized that 23.b5 won; it was a bit of a letdown.... |
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| Sep-10-06 | | Confuse: <TheSlid> is it really? I look at it now and I see no better move for black to make.. should he have resigned some moves earlier? |
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| Sep-10-06 | | mdz: much more persistent for Black is 26... Ra8 27. a7 Bb4 28. Nb5 Ba5 29. Ra4 c3
30. Bxh6 Nc5 31. Rc4 Ne6 though White still has the edge |
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Sep-10-06
 | | An Englishman: Good Afternoon: For me, the key to the position is the pawn at c6--get it out of the way, and either the light-squared Bishop or the Knight can invade via b5 or d5 (depending upon the variation), and control the queening square. So I sort of got this one, although I didn't see every variation. For a player of Chekhov's quality, this is a simple combination; for me, this was a speculative pawn sacrifice. However, did anyone see a quick refutation of 23...c6-c5? 24.a6 followed by Nd1-b2-c4 is horrible for Black, but I don't see a quick loss. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | kevin86: An interesting change of tactics by white: gain a passed pawn,push it as far as possible,and finally when it is captured-pin and win the poor knight who captured said pawn. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | ezumpf: What's the follow up to 30. Nxb6? I know I'm missing something. Thanks. |
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| Sep-10-06 | | kevin86: <ezumpf>my counter to 30 ♘xb6 would be ♘b3 |
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| Sep-10-06 | | GoHabsGo: Hello, what if things went this way:
23.b5 bxa5 24.bxc6 ♘f6 25.♖xa5 white is a whole pawn up and what a pawn! but nonetheless, can black still draw in that position? black to play
click for larger view |
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| Sep-10-06 | | GoHabsGo: btw I lack any rudimentary endgame experience |
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| Sep-11-06 | | psmith: <ezumpf> 30. Nxb6 Rxa7 31. Rxa7 c2 32. Ra1 Nb3 = <mdz>, <GoHabsGo>, <An Englishman>: In all those lines White is clearly better (indeed, probably just winning, even if no immediate win is obvious). The point is that after any other move by White except 23. b5!, Black will be able to equalize. |
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