Jul-08-19
 | | Phony Benoni: The Tuesday question, of course, is "What if White doesn't take the knight?" I'm looking at 25...Qf6+ 26.Kb3 Qb2+ 27.Kxc4 (27.Ka4 b5#) b5+ 28.Kc5 Qc3+ 29.Kxb5 Rd5+ and matters are soon settled. 26.Kb4 runs into the same thing. There's probably something better, of course. |
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Jul-08-19
 | | agb2002: White threatens Qxc4+.
The position of the white king and the defenseless white queen suggests 25... Qf6+: A) 26.Kxc4 Qa6+ followed by 27... Qxe2 wins.
B) 26.Kb3 Qb2+ 27.Kxc4 (27.Ka4 b5#) 27... b5+ 28.Kc5 Qc3+ 29.Kxb5 Rd5+ 30.Ka4(6) Ra5#. C) 26.Kb4 Qb2+
C.1) 27.Ka4 b5#.
C.2) 27.Kxc4 b5+ as in B.
C.3) 27.Kc5 Qb6+ 28.Kxc4 Qa6+ as in A. |
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Jul-08-19
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Yes, the question of what to do after 26.Kb3 and 26.Kb4 proved vexing, because 26.Kb4,b5+; 27.Kc5 is not (yet) checkmate. In reply to both, 26...Qb6+ might work better. |
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| Jul-08-19 | | NBZ: My move was 25. ... b5 stepping up Qe5/f6+ and a possible mating net. SF suggests this is also winning but nowhere as decisive as the game continuation. |
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Jul-08-19
 | | patzer2: For today's Monday (25...?) puzzle, not hard to find is the skewer combination 25...Qf6+ 26. Kxc4 Qa6_+ winning the White Queen. However, this Monday puzzle becomes a more difficult mate-in-five after 25...Qf6+ 27. Kb3 Qb2+ -+ (mate-in-five, Stockfish 9 analysis of move 26...?). P.S.: So where did White go wrong? Early in the opening, moving the Knight a second time with 8. Ng5? h6 ∓ (-0.61 @ 22 ply, Stockfish 9 analysis of move 8...?) gave Black the advantage. Instead, our Opening Explorer indicates the popular move 8. a4 = (0.00 @ 28 ply), as in White's win in V Iordachescu vs Raul Schmidt, 2010 keeps it level. |
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| Jul-08-19 | | Honey Blend: I opted for the quiet 25. ... ♔b8, with the idea that if 26. ♕xc4 ♖c8 wins, either way ... ♖c8 is coming and should be enough to win, but of course not on a Monday puzzle. Or is Monday the new Wednesday? |
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| Jul-08-19 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: I am pleased to see that other solvers shared both my difficulties and my insights into them. :) |
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Jul-08-19
 | | Sally Simpson: ***
Hi Honey Blend,
Phoney Benoni thinks this should be a Tuesday POTD so it's not a question of solving the POTD, it is what day of the week does it belong. 
click for larger viewFirst saw 1...Rd2 then 'OOPS!' 2.QxN is a check. So quickly went for 1...Qe5+ 2.Kxc4 Qb2 
click for larger viewwhich covers all the flight squares so the threat of any check (b5) wins. (thankfully it appears so.) The idea of the simple skewer passed me by. Guess I forgot it was Monday. *** |
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| Jul-08-19 | | zb2cr: The main line, 25. ... Qf6+; 26. Kxc4, Qa6+ wins Black a Queen for a Knight. Simple. Not so simple are the White alternatives, 26. Kb3 and 26. Kb4. In both cases, 26. ... Qb2+ looks promising, but I lack the time to follow up in my analysis. |
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Jul-08-19
 | | thegoodanarchist: Probably the worst Monday puzzle ever. chessgames management is floundering. |
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| Jul-08-19 | | mel gibson: Qe5 also wins just as well. |
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| Jul-08-19 | | TheaN: Probably instantaneously decisive is <25....Qf6+> as the knight's immune due to the skewer from a6 <26.Kxc4?! Qa6+ -+<>>. The alternatives give Black some room to slip up despite not being objectively better. <26.Kb4> is the main line: after <26.Kb3<>> the only difference is that White has a2, but that's mate <26....Qb6+ 27.Ka2? Qb2#<>>. I'd follow <26....Qb6+> as this feels more logical: however, Qb2+ works similarly. <27.Ka4? Nb2#<>> and <27.Kxc4 Qa6+ -+<>> still, so back to c3 <27.Kc3 Qb2+> now Kxc4 is forced, but Black no longer has a6 in sight <28.Kxc4>. The coup de grace is <28....b5+!> and White's forcefully chased up the board <29.Kc5 Qc3+ 30.Kxb5 (Qc4 Qxc4#) Rd5+> with <31....Ra5#>. All the analysis aside: the skewer's a Monday. The alternatives perhaps not, but as long as it becomes clear the alternatives don't fair much better it isn't that much harder than usual. |
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Jul-08-19
 | | Fusilli: A Monday puzzle is usually a mate in two or a win in two or three forced moves. That's what "very easy" traditionally meant. <CG>, can we go back to that please? The fact that Black helped by taking the knight instead of the smarter responses Kb3 or Kb4 doesn't make it "very easy" even if it did to Portisch. |
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| Jul-08-19 | | TheaN: After 26.Kb4 the objective best move is in fact 26....Qb2+ as Kxc4 is forced leading to a move faster mate, but the reason in itself may not be immediately apparent: 27.Ka4 b5# is obvious, but how does Black continue after 27.Kc5?
click for larger view
Of course, 27....Qb6+ forces 28.Kxc4 Qa6+ -+ but no mate. No, <27....Ne5!> is striking. The only defense against both b6# and Qb6# is <28.Qa6>, a somewhat comical move that, because it pins Pb7, does prevent the main mating idea, however after <28....bxa6> White has no defense against 29....Qc3#... or well, one: <29.c4 Qb6#> :>. |
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Jul-08-19
| | boringplayer: I saw the same line as Phony Benoni. If Black doesn't play into the skewer, he gets mated. |
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| Jul-08-19 | | RKnight: OK, OK, not Monday, but it's a great midweek puzzle. I easily found the game line, but didn't really solve it, as that needs a convincing response to 26. Kb3. <agb2002> found it. I really like his (her) analyses when posted. |
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| Jul-08-19 | | lost in space: Got the solution but took me much more time than the usual 0,1 seconds. No typical Monday bääääm bäääm mate combination |
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Jul-08-19
 | | whiteshark: I went for a different the Q winning line with larger own material input |
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| Jul-08-19 | | Hercdon: Like a few other players I found 25 ... Qe5 which also wins. Ok it’s not the best I admit. A good puzzle says to me “Pick the right move, or lose outright, or at least not be assured of winning.” |
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Kibitzing
sac: 25...Qf6+