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Mar-01-17
 | | Penguincw: Happy Saint David's Day to all the Welsh people on this site. Anyway, wow, February is already over. What a short month... The starting position on this puzzle is just wow. 3 queens on the board, all are attacked. White has a queen, bishop and pawn vs. a knight. The unforced sequence of 29...Rxe8 30.Rxf4 Rxe2 31.R(any)xg4 Rxc2 would be quite nice for black, as now they're only down a pawn. As for the actual puzzle, I got 29...Rh1+ 30.Kxh1, but had 2 incorrect followups. The first was 30...Nxf2+, but white can play 31.Qxf2 Qxf2 32.Kh2, and if 32...Qxc2, then 33.Rh3 (threatening mate on h8) g5 34.Qh8+ Kg6 35.Qh7+, and the queen is picked off. The other move I chose was 30...Qh6+, and if 31.Kg1, then 31...Qh2+ 32.Kf1 Qh1# 0-1, but white can play 31.Rh3, and e8 says it's a win for white. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | YouRang: Wednesday 29...?
click for larger view
It's a bit embarrassing, but it took me a few moments to notice that white had two queens, lol. My first thought actually the rook-sac <29...Rh1+>, which demands <30.Kxh1>
click for larger view
My initial motivation was to put the king where the N could give check via 30...Nxf2+, thinking 31.Qxf2 32.Qxh2, and I just won a queen! But that's when it finally dawned on me that white had the spare queen, and I'm still lost. However, I then noticed that besides setting up the no-so-effective knight check, the rook-sac created a back-rank mating threat, and that's when <30...Rxe2!> came into view
click for larger view
This threatens ...Re1+ and ~#, and taking the rook fails (31.Rxe2? Qf1#). Amazingly, there is little that white can do with his superior material. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | Once: Clever stuff. The rook sac on h1 forces the white king in the corner where he is vulnerable to back rank mates. White can capture either the black rook or the black queen "for free". But as he can only capture one of them, the other is able to give the back rank mate. Easier to see and a clearer kill than yesterday's. Enjoyed that. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | agb2002: Black has a knight for a queen, a bishop and a pawn. White threatens Qxh8+ and Rxf4.
The first idea that comes to mind is 29... Rh1+ 30.Kxh1 Qh6+ but is met with 31.Rh3. Or 30... Qxg3 31.Rxf7+ Kxf7 32.Qd7+ Qf3+, etc. Also losing is 29... Rxe2 30.Qxh8+ (30.Rxf4 Re1+ 31.Rf1 Rh1+ 32.Kxh1 Rxf1#) 30... Kxh8 31.Rxf4. Another idea is 29... Rh1+ 30.Kxh1 Rxe2, threatening a back rank mate: A) 31.Rxg4 Re1+ 32.Rf1 Rxf1#.
B) 31.Rxf4 Re1+ 32.Rf1 Rxf1#.
C) 31.Rxe2 Qf1#.
D) 31.Rgf3 Qh2#.
E) 31.Qf6+ Qxf6 32.Rxg4 (32.Rxf6 Re1+ 33.Rf1 Rxf1#) 32... Qxf2 etc. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | AlicesKnight: ....rh1+ was indeed the key. What an extraordinary position. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | gofer: I finally argued (with myself) that Rh8 had to move, if it doesn't the only check is
Qc8+ which doesn't do much. If Rh8 stays where it is then white simply plays Qxh8+
winning the rook with tempo. So, this lead me to looking at the obvious Rh1+ which
I had been looking at beforehand in some combinations... <29 ... Rh1+>
<30 Kxh1 ...>
Now we could play the rather lame Nxf2+, but there is something much stronger... <30 ... Rxe2!>
Now we threaten Re1+, which Rf2 cannot defend against as the king is on h1, not
on g1 (any more).
31 Rxe2 Qf1#
31 Rxf4 Re1+
32 Rf1 Rxf1#
But the icing on the cake is that Rxg4 is also losing, becuase Qf4 is now covering
h2!
31 Rxg4 Re1+
32 Rf1 Rxf1#
So white has to find a way to use Qd8 or Bc2 to do something... ...but they can
do nothing!
~~~
Yep! |
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| Mar-01-17 | | The Kings Domain: Got the first move, missed the second one. Good puzzle and good game. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | Whitehat1963: I thought Rxe2 would work right from the start. And it almost does. I didn't see that Rh1 was needed first. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | morfishine: <29...Rh1+> corners the White King ***** |
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| Mar-01-17 | | ChessHigherCat: I tried to play on the Ra8 theme, too, but in a different order: 29. ...Rxe2 30. Rxf4 (30. Rxe2 Ra8+ 31. Kxa8 Qf1#; or 30. Rxg4 Re1+ 31. Rf1 Qf1#) Re1+ 31. Rf1 Ra8+ 32. Kxa8 Rxf1#.
Does that work, too? |
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| Mar-01-17 | | Geronimo: Much easier than yesterday! (Or I'm just less jet-lagged.). Seeing that the forcing rook sacrifice removes the king from its defence of f2 is the only idea you need. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | Geronimo: Nice comparison <notyetagm>, helpful as always. I went back and realised that I solved te puzzle WITHOUT HAVING REALISED THERE ARE THREE QUEENS on the board, so it may be that I'm still a bit jet-lagged after all. :-) |
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Mar-01-17
 | | Willber G: I made things more difficult for myself by misreading the puzzle as 28... but got it anyway. I'm going to count that as a Thursday! |
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Mar-01-17
 | | steinitzfan: A short but very deep combination. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | CanITakeThatBack: anyone else in a slump recently? |
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| Mar-01-17 | | BOSTER: Nobody ask white to open "h" file playing 22.Kxh2
22.Kh1 and maybe white is better. |
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Mar-01-17
 | | Jimfromprovidence: I first looked at 29...Qxg3, below, seeing 30...Qh2+.
click for larger viewBut black has 30 Rxf7+ and after 30...Kxf7, white has a perpetual beginning with 31 Qd7+. 
click for larger view |
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| Mar-01-17 | | catlover: <CanITakeThatBack: anyone else in a slump recently?> I'm in a perpetual slump. Case in point, I didn't get this puzzle. However, I enjoyed the process of trying to figure it out and the "Ahah!" when I saw the solution played in the game. This was a great POTD. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | ChessHigherCat: Corrected post: I tried to play on the Rh1 theme, too, but in a different order: 29. ...Rxe2 30. Rxf4 (30. Rxe2 Rh1+ 31. Kxh1 Qf1#; or 30. Rxg4 Re1+ 31. Rf1 Qf1#) Re1+ 31. Rf1 Rh1+ 32. Kxh1 Rxf1#. Does that work, too? |
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| Mar-01-17 | | stst: W got two Qs!! But Black can get one back.
Just a glance without much deliberation, the obvious move is Rh1+ to set the ball rolling, followed by N+ (maybe, if KxR, if not, W's inviting trouble after QxQ.) |
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| Mar-01-17 | | BOSTER: < stst :followed by N+>.
Not is the best. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | daveinsatiable: <ChessHigherCat> Rxe2 was my solution too, but it fails to Qxh8+, and the essential Rh1+ is no longer available. |
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Mar-01-17
 | | Richard Taylor: I got this one wrong thought it was 1 Rh1+ and then Qxg3.... it is a confusing position is my excuse! |
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| Mar-01-17 | | ChessHigherCat: <daveinsatiable: <ChessHigherCat> Rxe2 was my solution too, but it fails to Qxh8+, and the essential Rh1+ is no longer available.>
Thanks. Qxh8 was the one variant I didn't think through but it was 5am and I decided to go back to sleep and let somebody else figure it out. Anyway, it was less forcing than the immediate Rh1+ so we should have seen that as a bad sign. |
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| Mar-01-17 | | devere: A difficult problem with an unusual tactical theme |
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Kibitzing
sac: 29...Rh1+
