May-13-10
 | | GrahamClayton: A classic example of when castling is not always the safest move! |
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| Apr-13-22 | | Brenin: My immediate reaction was that 16 Nxc6 bxc6 17 Qxe6 wins a P. This seemed a bit thin for a Wednesday POTD so was there something better? Yes, 17 Ba6+ Kb8 (Kc7 18 Ba5+ or Kd7 18 Bb4+ are terrible for Black) 18 Bf4+ Ka8 19 Qxe6 with mate to follow, e.g. 19 ... Qxe6 20 Rxd8+. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | mel gibson: Easy today for a Wednesday -
I saw that in under 3 seconds.
Stockfish 14 agrees with the first ply:
16. Nxc6
(16. Nxc6 (♘e5xc6 ♕e7-d6 ♘c6xd8
♗e6-g4 ♕e2-f2 ♕d6xd8 ♕f2xa7 ♕d8-c7 ♗d3-e4 ♘f6xe4 ♖e1xe4 ♗f8-c5 ♕a7-a8+
♕c7-b8 ♕a8xb8+ ♔c8xb8 ♖e4xg4 ♖h8-f8 ♖g4xg7 h7-h5 g2-g3 ♖f8-f3 ♖g7-h7 ♔b8-a7
♗d2-f4 h5-h4 ♖h7xh4 ♔a7-a6 ♖h4-h7 b7-b6 ♖h7-h6 ♔a6-b5 a2-a3 ♗c5-e3+ ♗f4xe3
♖f3xe3 ♖h6-h5+ ♔b5-c6 ♖h5-h7) +11.62/33 173)
score for White +11.62 depth 33. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | EasilyConfused: @Brenin I think if 19 Qxe6, 19 …Rxd1+ 20 Kxd1 Qxc6 partially salvages Black’s situation, I don’t see a forced mate |
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| Apr-13-22 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: The e-file weakness was easy to see.
It was also easy to see that Nxc6 was the correct form of the discovered attack. It was fairly easy to see that the Ba6+ Zwischenzug helped, e.g. by stopping Black from defending the c-pawn. Of course, one also had to see that bringing Black's king back to the d-file allowed discovered check. I soon realized this line left Black's rook weak. I declared puzzle success without confirming just how extreme Black's back-rank weakness was. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | Lenchess: There is a forced mate after 18 Bf4+; Black has nothing better than 18 ...Ka8. There follows then 19 Rd8+, Qd8, 20 Qe6, Qb6 ( only way to stop Qc6+ ) 21 Qe8+ Ne8, 22 Re8+ Qd8, 23 Rd8 mate. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | patfoley: 19qe6 rd1 20rd1 and white mates soon |
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Apr-13-22
 | | al wazir: 17...Kc7 18. Ba5+ Kb8 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. Bxd8 Bd5 21. Qe5+ Ka8 22. Qc7 with 23. Qb7# or 23. Qc8# to follow. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | agb2002: Black threatens Bxa2 (b3 Qa3#).
The first idea that comes to mind is 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Qxe6+ Qxe6 18.Ba6+ Kb8 19.Rxe6 winning a pawn at least. White also has 17.Ba6+:
A) 17... Kb8 18.Bf4+ Ka8 19.Qxe6 (threatens Qxc6+, Qxe7, Rxd8+) A.1) 19... Qxe6 20.Rxd8+ Qc8 21.Rxc8#.
A.2) 19... Qe8 20.Qxc6+ Qxc6 21.Rxd8+ Qc8 22.Rxc8#. A.3) 19... Rd6 20.Qc8#.
A.4) 19... Rb8 20.Qxc6+ Rb7 21.Qc8+ Rb8 22.Qxb8#. B) 17... Kc7 18.Ba5+ Kb8 19.Rxd8+ Qxd8 20.Bxd8 wins decisive material. C) 17... Kd7 18.Bc5+ Ke8 19.Bxe7 wins decisive material. |
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Apr-13-22
 | | Teyss: A bit trickier than it seems. Here after 17...Kb8 18.Bf4+ Ka8, does White play 19.Rxd8+ or Qxe6_? 
click for larger viewApparently 19.Rxd8+ mates: 19...Qxd8 20.Qxe6 Qb6 as per <Lenchess> 21.Qc8+. But Black can defend with 20...Bd6! even though White wins easily. So 19.Qxe6 it is. But after 19...Rxd1+ 20.Kxd1 as per <EasilyConfused> Qxe6 21.Rxe6♗b4 prevents mate even if White still wins. That's because there is a puzzle in the puzzle: White to play and win. 
click for larger view20.Rxd1! Queen-sac Wednesday. Black cannot prevent mate. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | AlicesKnight: Found the game-line approach. The cross-ways bishops slice into the defence. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | parch: 16.N:c6 starts a rout, 16...Qd7
After 16...bc6 17.Ba6+
Black has 17...Kd7/...Kc7/...Kb8/
which all lose.
17.N:d8 Bg4 18.Qf2 Q:d8 (18...B:d1 19.Bf5 )19.Q:a7 with a winning position. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | TheaN: <Teyss> gives the slightly more tricky variations for this Wednesday, though one might argue how necessary they are. I for one, am part of the 19.Rxd8 crowd and I think it's more than enough for a win. Back up: <16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Ba6+ Kb8 (Kc7 18.Ba5+ +-) 18.Bf4+ Ka8> any interposing is terrible <19.Rxd8+ +->.
click for larger view
Perhaps a bit <too> direct. After 19....Qxd8 20.Qxe6, it seems as though Black has no defense against mate, but 20....Bd6?! saves it for now. Lets be realistic though, what's saved after 21.Qxd6 Qb6:
click for larger view
Up a piece and pawn and control over both open files. Instead, 19.Qxe6 puts the question to the queen directly, as 19....Qxe6 20.Rxd8+ Qc8 21.Rxc8#, so 19....Rxd1+. Now, White will have to continue in the same spirit to force mate by playing 20.Rxd1!
click for larger view
As then Black has no defense against either Qxc6+ or Rd8+. If you saw that in full, kudos, Qxe6 is better. I count both for the solve though. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | fokers13: very classic opening up the position into bishops tearing apart the queenside castle,got it in seconds. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | Canadian chesser: I missed the solution which is the best and ingenious of Schmidt. The way he sacs the knight in order to create typical 2-bishop hell for the king on the back rank towards a corner! (This reminds me of a Raaphy Persitz brilliant mating win with the bishops highlighted by Gerald Abrahams on page 173 of his _The Pan Book of Chess_ (1966), though unfortunately I cannot find that game in the database. Perhaps someone can remedy that!)
My answer to the puzzle was 12.Nc7 where apparently White wins a minor piece?
Thanks <Teyss> for the Kibitz summary and analysis showing Black faces mate with 12.Nxc6. However does 19...Nd5 save Black from forced mate? |
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| Apr-13-22 | | Canadian chesser: Well, a winning position at least my "solution" provides! Not a minor piece I see now, apologies. |
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Apr-13-22
 | | Dionysius1: It looks like the least damage Black can escape with, while avoiding the ♗ ♗ mate, is 19...♔a8 20.♕xe6 ♖xd1 21.♔xd1 ♕xe6 22.♖xe6
click for larger viewOK, resignable for sure, but less damage than I thought at first glance after 18.♗f4+. Unless I've gone wrong somewhere? |
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Apr-13-22
| | Dionysius1: Ach, and I have gone wrong, because 20.♖xd1 instead retains the grip on the d8 square, so 20...♕xe6 isn't possible, and mate at d8 is on the way. Even 20...♘d7 doesn't work because of 21.♕xc6 mate. 
click for larger viewI'm done trying to help this guy ;-) |
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Apr-13-22
| | Dionysius1: Excuse the bad move numbering on my earlier post. I can't think of a way of repairing it without having to redo both it and my following post, to keep the sequencing right. So I leave it to the good graces of anyone following me so far to work out what I was trying to get at. Brrr, this chess language takes some learning! Good fun though. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | Canadian chesser: <Dionysius1> what about 19...Nd5 for Black to avoid forced-mate sequence after White plays Qxe6 as you and <Teyss> indicate? (Yes after Qxe6 your and <Teyss>'s idea was instead 19...Rxd1, I know.) PS I think my 16.Nf7 idea wins the exchange and therefore the game (in my above post I meant my answer was 16.Nf7 not 12.Nf7, apologies for the typo). |
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| Apr-13-22 | | johnnydeep: Got the first three plies straight away. Black is in bad shape after that. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | whiteshark: <johnnydeep: Got the first three plies straight away. Black is in bad shape after that.> Exactly the same for me. |
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Apr-13-22
| | Teyss: <Canadian chesser> 19...Nd5 20.Qxc6+ and mate.
16.Nf7 Qxf7 17.Qxe6+ Qxe6 18.Rxe6 Bd6 with approximate equality. |
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| Apr-13-22 | | whiteshark:
click for larger view
White to move
1) mate-in-8 (29 ply) 19.Qxe6 Qd6 20.Bxd6 Bxd6 21.Rxd6 Rc8 22.Qf7 Rb8 23.Re7 Nd7 24.Rexd7 Rbc8 25.Rxa7+ Kb8 26.Qb7# 6.0 minute analysis by Stockfish 11 v064
[this is clearly too long here, but "my standard time".] |
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| Apr-13-22 | | Canadian chesser: Thank you <Teyss>, I was way wrong with both ideas. I was trying to do it visually without setting up a board and that will teach me!
(BTW I have asked a question about Burn vs Tarrasch, 1898 that the puzzle solvers here might be able to help me with?) |
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Kibitzing
sac: 16.Nxc6