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| Dec-02-10 | | rilkefan: Hmm, best I could see was the game continuation, which isn't any great shakes as far as I can tell. Couldn't get 14...Bxf2+ 15.Rxf2 Neg4 to work any better. |
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| Dec-02-10 | | Shams: I don't know, white's up a clean pawn with the bishop pair. What's not to love? |
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| Dec-02-10 | | Fish55: <Hmm, best I could see was the game continuation, which isn't any great shakes> I'll take an extra pawn plus better placed pieces and pawns. |
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Dec-02-10
 | | Jimfromprovidence: I see the mate threat after 14...Nfg4 (15...Nxf3+, then 16...Qxh2#). So, 15 Bf4 looks best because both 15 Nxe5 and 15 g3 lose the bishop on g5. Now, 15...Nxf3 16 gxf3 Qxf4 17 fxg4 Qxg4+ gives black a nice early advantage. 
click for larger view |
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Dec-02-10
 | | al wazir: Why didn't black play 22...Qh3 ? White has to defend with 24. Qe3 (24. f3/f4? Bc5+) Qxe3 25. fxe3, and is stuck with ugly doubled ♙s. |
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| Dec-02-10 | | rilkefan: <Shams>: "I don't know, white's up a clean pawn with the bishop pair. What's not to love?" Fair enough, I was just looking for something more immediately decisive - something that would result in the the game ending say 40 moves earlier. |
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| Dec-02-10 | | skytazz: 22...Qh3 leeds to an early win. After 23. Qe3 Qxh2#
23. e5 Qg2#
23. Bxg5 + axb5
24. Qxb5 + Kf8 . and nothing left to prevent the moves shown above. |
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| Dec-02-10 | | dzechiel: Black to move (14...?). Material even. "Medium."
My first thought is
14...Nfg4
This has the threat of 15...Nxf3+ followed by 16 Qxh2#. There's really little white can do to stay even. On... 15 g3 Nxf3+
wins a piece. Likewise, on
15 Nxe5 Qxe5
threatens mate and the bishop on g5. The f-pawn cannot be used to defend both as it's pinned by the black bishop on c5. The best try may be 15 Bf4 Nxf3+ 16 gxf3 Qxf4 17 fxg4 Qxg4+ Kh1
where black wins a pawn, white has a gash in his king side and black has the bishop pair. There may be more, but I'm not seeing it tonight.
Time to check.
=====
On the money. |
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Dec-02-10
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Sometimes CG will play this trick on us; the solution to the puzzle "only" wins a pawn. Still, I like how the solution is such a quiet little killer of a move. I'm missing something after the recommended 22...Qh3; 23.f3,Bc5; 24.Kh1. I don't see the quick win. What have I overlooked *this* time? |
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Dec-02-10
 | | scormus: This is medium? I mean , not much harder than yesterday? <An Englishman, al wazir> I wondered about 22... Qh3 too but 23 f3 or f4 and I dont see how B is any better than a pawn up. Am I missing something better than 14 ... Nfg4? |
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| Dec-02-10 | | tacticalmonster: 1) White threatens 15 Nxb5 or 15 Bxb5+ winning a pawn 2) Black puts pressure on the f2 and h2 pawns
3) Black can ruin White's structure with Nxf3+ and after that the g5 bishop is loose Candidate: 14...Nfg4
a) 15 Nxe5 Qxe5 16 g3 Qxg5- Black is up a bishop
b) 15 g3 Nxf3+ 16 Kh1 Nxg5- Black is up two minor pieces c) 15 Ne2 Nxd3 16 g3 Nxc1- Black is up a rook
d) 15 Bf4 Nxf3+ 16 gxf3 Qxf4 17 fxg4 Qxg4+ (17...h5!? 18 g5  ) 18 Kh1 Qf3+ 19 Kg1- Black is up a pawn with a superior position |
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| Dec-02-10 | | stacase: Black snatched another Pawn, traded a Bishop for a Knight and exposed White's King. Over the board I'm pretty sure I would have done all that. I'm having a good week so far (-: |
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| Dec-02-10 | | tacticalmonster: I am curious to know after the variation: 14...Nfg4 15 Bf4 Nf3+ 16 gxf3 Qxf4 17 fxg4 h5!? 
click for larger viewI wonder what the " real tacticalmonster" (Fritz or Rybka) said about this position- Black decide to press the initiative rather than going for material gain |
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| Dec-02-10 | | TheBish: A Rustemov vs R Vera, 2002 Black to play (14...?) "Medium"
14...Nfg4! threatens mate in two (15...Nxf3+ 16. gxf3 Qxh2#) and White can stop it only by shedding a piece: A) 15. g3 Nxf3+ 16. Kg2 Nxg5 loses two pieces, but stops the mate (little consolation). B) 15. Nxe5 Qxe5 wins the bishop on g5, as 16. f4 is impossible due to the pin by Black's Bc5. C) 15. Bf4 obviously loses a piece to 15...Nxf3+ 16. gxf3 Qxf4. D) 15. Ne1 (or Nd2, Nh4) Nxd3 16. g3 (about the only move to stop mate) Nxc1 17. Rxc1 wins a whole rook. It will be interesting to see how this finished. |
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| Dec-02-10 | | TheBish: Whoops! Kinda rushed it on part C), little embarassing. It was a tough day, but no excuse. Black only wins a pawn here, but with position, pretty much forcing a trade of queens. This accelerates the transition to the endgame, where the advantage of the two bishops in addition to the pawn doesn't hurt. |
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Dec-02-10
 | | perfidious: This seems fairly simple; 14....Nfg4 gives Black a decisive advantage, near as I can tell. |
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| Dec-02-10 | | goodevans: It really helps if you read the caption. Today it reads <black to play>. D'oh!
The only thing I can contribute today is that white is threatening Nxb5, which not only picks up a couple of pawns but gives black real problems with his uncastled king. I'll be more careful in future. |
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| Dec-02-10 | | celessar: I got the puzzle with the moves up until the 17th. Instead of 17...Qxg4 shouldn't black have played 17...Bd6(threatening Qxh2#) 18. Rfd1 Qxh2+ 19. Kf1 Qh3+ 20. Ke1 Qxg4 winning two pawns
? |
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| Dec-02-10 | | knight knight: Ok have spent a few minutes on this, and I like the look of 14...Nfg4, threatening 15...Nxf3+ and mate on h2. If 15. Nxe5 Qxe5 threatens the mate and attacks the bishop, and I can't see a defence (16. f4 not possible since the pawn is pinned). So what can white play after 14...Nfg4? a) 15. Nd2/e1/h4 Nxd3 winning a piece and the exchange b) 15. Nd4 Nxd3 as in a) or just 15...Bxd4 winning at least a piece c) 15. g3 Nxf3+ winning two pieces
d) 15. Bf4 Nxf3+ 16. gxf3 Qxf4 17. fxg4 Qxg4+ winning a pawn e) 15. Bxb5+ axb5 white down in material with the same problem I can't see any other defences, time to check what black played... |
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| Dec-02-10 | | agb2002: The material is even.
White would probably reorganize his pieces with Nxe5, Bh4, Kh1, f4, etc. The maneuver 14... Nxf3+ 15.gxf3 Ng4, threatening mate fails because of the obvious 16.fxg4, but this suggests 14... Nfg4, changing the move order and threatening mate in two: A) 15.Nxe5 Qxe5 16.g3 Qxg5 - + [B].
B) 15.Bf4 Nxf3+ 16.gxf3 Qxf4 17.fxg4 Qxg4+ 18.Kh1 Qf3+ 19.Kg1 B.1) 19... h5
B.1.a) 20.Nxb5 Rh6 21.Rfd1 (21.e5 Qg2#) Rg6+ 22.Kf1 Qg2+ 23.Ke1 (23.Ke2 Qxf2#) Qg1+ 24.Kd2 Qxf2+ 25.Kc3 (25.Be2 Qe3+ 26.Ke1 Rg1#) Qxc2+ 26.Rxc2 axb5 27.Bxb5+ Kf8 28.Rd7 Rb8 29.Kb3 Bb6 - + [B]. B.1.b) 20.Bxb5+ axb5 21.Nxb5 Bxe4 - +.
B.1.c) 20.Be2 Qf4 21.Nxb5 Bxf2+ 22.Rxf2 Qg5+ 23.Rg2 Qe3+ 24.Kh1 axb5 25.Bxb5+ and White holds. B.2) 19... Bd6
B.2.a) 20.Be2 Qf4 21.Rfd1 (21.Kg2 Qxh2+ 22.Kf3 Qh3#) Qxh2+ 22.Kf1 Qh1#. B.2.b) 20.Qe2 Qxe2 21.Bxe2 0-0 and Black has the bishop pair and an extra pawn. |
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Dec-02-10
 | | moronovich: The same theme in the morra smith gambit.And should be known to everyone who wants to improve his game as far as it occurs not seldom ( at least as a theme). |
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| Dec-02-10 | | Chesschatology: This puzzle is really about jute trading in mid sixteenth century Bengal. You see, it isn't enough to know the price of jute, you also need to know whether the demand for ropes and twines made of jute has risen in comparison to the demand for simple clothing made from the same fabric. And if cotton is cheap, that could wreck your whole calculations. And what about the rampaging elephants? Ah the life of a jute trader wasn't easy! But don't jute the messenger! In the puzzle position today, the two knights are respectively the clothing and twine demand curves for jute, and the position arising after 15 Bf4 Nxf3+ 16 gxf3 Qxf4 17 fxg4 Qxg4+ Kh1 is the projected trade surplus for the first two quarters. But as a 16C peasant, you have no idea what any of that means. So you jump on your horse. But which knight is right? Of course an immediate foray into the cloth market (14 ... Nxf3) proves less profitable than a languorous tour of the twine bazaar (14... Ng4), leaving the local fakir on g5 unable to tax you effectively. And that shows that sometimes, even without a grasp of modern economics, you can still choose the right path, if you have a loom with a view! |
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| Dec-02-10 | | eaglewing: Suggestions for White:
22. Rce1 (do you need to exchange queens, yet?)
Endgame: 49. Nc1 followed by Ne2 with the option to attack b5 via c3/d4. |
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| Dec-02-10 | | Once: This is one of those rare puzzles where the key is a quiet move. At first glance 14...Nfg4 doesn't do much. It doesn't capture or give check. It doesn't threaten any piece directly or even offer to make a fork - the knight's usual speciality. It looks as if white is free to make any legal move he wants. But what the move does do is set up a massive indirect threat of 15...Nxf3+ followed by 16...Qxh2#. And it turns out that this threat is so powerful that white's free move can't really deal with it. White would love to overprotect f3 or h2, say with Nd2, Nf1 or Bg3. But he just can't do it. He would love to be able to shoo the knight away with h3, but he hasn't got the time. He can't block the diagonal to the h2 pawn with g3 as this just hangs the Nf3. What else? 15. Nxe5 Qxe5 simply moves the threat but doesn't stop it. Of course 16. f4 to block the mate and protect the Bg5 is illegal because that pawn is pinned. White's only chance is to give up a pawn with the game continuation. And, as all the best chess books say, the rest is technique. So what do we make of this Nfg4 move then? Botvinnik would argue that it isn't a combination because it doesn't involve a sacrifice. But as I sit at my computer, the world outside has turned white. The little town of Godalming in Surrey is under several inches of dazzlingly white snow. And everything is oddly quiet and beautiful. The roads are virtually empty, the birds are hiding and even your footsteps are muffled. It's postcard pretty to be sure, but it's also very dangerous. The cold can be deadly - it's sad to think that there will be some old folks who won't be with us after all this has melted. And so perhaps we can think of Nfg4 as a snowflake move. On its own it is nothing. A quiet, pretty, silent move. But combine it with the Ne5 and Qc7 and it becomes a killer. Both Napoleon and Hitler failed when they tried to invade Russia - not so much by the strength and resilience of its people, but by the falling of snowflakes. |
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| Dec-02-10 | | Once: <Chesschatology: This puzzle is really about jute trading in mid sixteenth century Bengal.> Now that's an amazing coincidence, because it is just what I was thinking! ;-) |
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