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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
| Sep-23-10 | | whiteshark: I got the first two moves, too, and stopped due to the manifold deadly threats of Re7+, Nh5+, Ne8+ or Qg5+ after Kxf6. |
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Sep-23-10
 | | agb2002: White has a knight and a pawn for the bishop pair.
Black threatens ... Bxf5 or ... Nxf5.
The white pawns shield somehow the black king. Therefore, 26.f6+: A) 26... Kf8 27.g7+ Kg8 28.gxh8=Q+ Kxg8 29.Qg7#.
B) 26... Kg8 27.g7 Rh7 28.Qg6 Bd7 29.Neg5 with multiple threats: 30.Qxh7#, 30.f7+ Nxf7 31.Qxf7#, 30.Re8+ Bxe8 31.Qxe8#. C) 26... Bxf6 27.Nxf6 (threatens 28.Re7+ and 28.Ne8+) C.1) 27... Kxf6 28.Qg5+ Kg7 29.Re7+ Kg8 (29... Kf8 30.Qf6+ Kg8 31.Qg7#) 30.Qf6 Nf5 31.Qf7#. C.2) 27... Qc7 28.Ne8+ Rxe8 29.Rxe8 + - [R vs B] and multiple threats: Rae1-Re7+, Qg5-Re7+, Ng5-Ne6+, etc. C.3) 27... Nf5 28.Ne8+
C.3.a) 28... Kg8 29.g7 Rh7 30.Nf6+ Kf7 31.g8=Q+ Kxf6 32.Q2(8)g6#. C.3.b) 28... Kh6 29.Qg5#.
C.3.c) 28... Rxe8 29.Rxe8 Qc3 (29... Ne3 30.Re7+ and 31.Qg5) 30.Rae1 + - [R vs B] and a winning attack, for example, 30... Qxd3 31.Qg5 Qxf3 32.R1e7+ Nxe7 33.Qxe7+ Kh6 34.Rh8+ Kxg6 35.Rg8+ and mate in two. C.4) 27... Ng8 28.Ne8+ Kf8 29.g7+ Kf7 30.Nd6+ Kf6 31.Qg5#. C.5) 27... Rf8 28.Re7+ Nf7 (28... Kxf6 29.Qg5#; 28... Kh8 29.g7#) 29.gxf7+ wins. C.6) 27... Rd8 28.Re7+ Kf8 29.Rh7 with considerable material losses. |
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| Sep-23-10 | | Patriot: Important note before analysing: White is up a pawn for a piece. This impacts analysis as black is free to give a piece back. I noticed this fact before analysing but did not account for this in variation A since that would leave white slightly ahead in material and for the fact that I don't have time to analyze a lot of non-forcing moves. 26.f6+
A) 26...Bxf6 27.Nxf6 Kxf6 28.Qg5+ Kg7 29.Re7+ Kg8 30.Qf6 and mate next. (30...Nxf5 31.Qf7#) B) 26...Kf8 27.g7+ wins.
C) 26...Kg8 27.g7 Rh7 28.f7+! Kxf7 29.Nd6+ Kf6 (29...Kg8 30.Re8#) 30.Qg5# After my analysis, I played over variation C and saw that I missed a big possibility: 28...Nxf7 This fails to the pretty line 29.Nf6+! Bxf6 30.Re8# |
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| Sep-23-10 | | TheaN: Can't say I had the patience to see this through in all lines, but I did see 26....Kf8 27.g7†  , 26....Kg8 27.g7 Rh7 and Black is completely paralysed, and ofc 26....Bxf6 27.Nxf6 with piece gain. Fair enough, not gonna post a long analysis today. |
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| Sep-23-10 | | AuN1: very nice final position. |
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Sep-23-10
 | | al wazir: <Once>: "Winder/hinder"? I think you're giving Longfellow too much credit. |
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| Sep-23-10 | | mohitm: Saw f6+ but didn't anticipate ..Bg4 |
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| Sep-23-10 | | rapidcitychess: I thought this was an excellent king hunt. I love how in the puzzle we had to think of opening lines, and the passers. Great puzzle, I loved the amount of depth. |
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Sep-23-10
 | | kevin86: Funny how chess is-it knocked me out how quickly black was mated from the problem position. It was a quick march to the scaffold. |
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Sep-23-10
 | | playground player: Why would you want to try a defense named "Agincourt" against an English Opening? Wouldn't that be like picking "the Isandhlwana Defense against the Zulu Opening," or "the Custer Defense against the Sitting Bull Opening?" |
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| Sep-23-10 | | tinchoracing: I totally agree with your thoughts on this week's puzzles, Once. |
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Sep-23-10
 | | Once: <playground player> Very good point. And if you were to meet 1. c4 with 1...b6 and 2...e6, you would be playing the English defence to the English opening, which is I suppose a form of civil war. The thing I like about the battle of Agincourt is that it may have given us a rude hand gesture. The English army at the time was widely feared for its longbowmen. And the story goes that when the French captured an English archer, they would cut off the first two fingers of his right hand so that he could no longer draw a bow. At the battle of Agincourt, a force of 8,500 English (of whom 7,000 were archers) faced a French force that may have numbered as many as 50,000. The English were exhausted, hungry, demoralised and many of them were severely ill with dysentery. The smell must have been awful. And so the story goes, before the battle the English archers held up two fingers in the classic V sign, with the knuckles pointing towards the French. And this meant - "look, monsooer frenchie, we've still got our fingers! Now come on up this ploughed field and let get ready to le rumble." And the rest is - literally for <once> - history. The French armoured fighting men had to slog their way through the mud of the field wearing 50-60 pounds of plate and mail, all the time coming under fierce fire from the English longbow. And when they got to the English lines, the archers dropped their bows and picked up hatchets and sharp knives. Nasty. The result was between 4,000 and 11,000 dead French soldiers and between 100 and 1,600 dead English. I think that counts as an away win in anybody's book. And now the V sign with the knuckles pointing out is, for us English, a sign of defiance and "*&^% you". The same gesture with the knuckles pointing back towards you is a much more benign sign meaning peace or victory. Is this story of the V sign true? Some sources say that it had nothing to do with Agincourt at all and was in general use before the battle. Who knows? But is makes for a fun story all the same. |
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| Sep-23-10 | | MiCrooks: This was pretty obvious though the game finish was very nice. I keep seeing most people playing g7 after Kxf6 when Qg5+ seems obvious and simpler. With Qg5+ Black only has one move Kg7. Then after Re7+ he only has three moves all of them leading to a quick mate. g7 is clearly fine but to me a completely forcing line with checks is preferable as it rules out any possibility of overlooking a defensive shot. Kf8 is mate in two starting with Qf6+.
Nf7 is also mate in two starting with gxf7+ Kg7 f8(promote to anything)++ or mate in four with Kf8 Re8+ Kxf7 Re7+ Kf8 Qg7++. Finally, Kg8 Re8+ Kg7 Rxh8 is a crush since Kxh8 is mate after Qxh6+ Kg8 Qh7+ Kf8 Qf7++. |
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Sep-23-10
 | | benveniste: Another in the "Why I'm a woodpusher" category for me. I was pretty sure that f6+/Nxf6 was winning, but I certainly didn't see 28. ♖e7+ after ♗g4. What a position! Black to move:
click for larger view |
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Sep-23-10
 | | LIFE Master AJ: White to play, 26. '?'
I found 26.f6+ almost instantly. I saw 27...Bg4, but dismissed it due to 28.NxB/g4. (I went no further than this.) Did White see the mate before playing his 26th move? I doubt it. Some of Black's moves look bad to me, in particular, 29...Ng3; looks downright suicidal. Of course, as my good friend Rick Frye used to point out: "It's easy to criticize a player for making a bad move in a bad position ..." |
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| Sep-23-10 | | VincentL: I don't know if this the most appropriate place to post this, but I understand that Boris Spassky is gravely ill. Whilst I am sure we would all appreciate a week of puzzles from his games, we do not want to have that week for many years to come yet.
I am sure others will join me in wishing him a full and speedy recovery. |
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Sep-23-10
| | LIFE Master AJ: <dzechiel> Man, you are a hard act to follow! I used to deliniate all the lines, but now I don't bother ... he has already done it. (And usually better than anyone else.) |
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| Sep-23-10 | | twin phoenix: this game kinda upset me...
White kills black but made some superficially 'ugly' moves and could not see how they were justified.First 11. N-e1. undeveloping the knight, but preparing for 12. f4 ok not too hard to see. yet the pawn interchange in the center is not clear at all. i would think blacks 14. --,g5 is kinda bad and leads to the loss as whites sac demonstrates. The first move of this combination is the one i would have a hard time playing. 15. Bxc6! this is the move i had to play over and over again.
"How can white give up his fianchetto bishop for that knight on c6??" The answer i arrived at was simple. There are more than 10 pawns on the board... this position favors knights. The bishops on both sides contribute to the loss for black. Whites bishop(who has never even wasted a tempo!) sacks itself on 23. Bxf4!! Blacks 26.--,Bxf6 marks the beginning of the end.
Knights achieving greatness! So why didn't black stop this with 24.--Nxe4 getting rid of one of those unruly beasts? |
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Sep-23-10
| | LIFE Master AJ: 21...Qa5?! ('?') 22...Nf7? ('??')
Others have already pointed out that White could have improved on his combination ... |
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Sep-23-10
| | LIFE Master AJ: 14...g5?! (Maybe - '?')
Engines today have come so far ...
I can remember when a mate in 7 was beyond them, no matter how much time you gave them. Just for grins and giggles, I ran this position by the machines ... (In this order:) Crafty, Fritz, Houdini, and Stockfish all universally chose 14...g6!; tearing down the wall of pawns ... (instead of the game move, which actually encouraged White's strategy). Of course, the plan of sacking to let (connected) passed Pawns run is not new, I have done it myself in many of my tournament games. I did find Wexler's concept to be both pleasing and strong ... although my analysis was very hasty ... (so therefore not definitive or conclusive). |
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| Sep-23-10 | | wals: Got f6, Bxf6,Nxf6, but not the twiddly bits after that. Analysis Rybka 4x64
Black: depth 16: 20 min:
(+1.45):21...Qa5.
Best,
1.  (1.18): 21...Nxf5 22.gxf5 Bxf5 23.Ne4 Bh3 24.Qe2 Re8 25.Bd2 Qd7 26.Qh2 Rh8 27.Nxc5 Qf5 28.Ne6+ Kf7 29.Kf2 g4 30.Qxf4 Qxf4 31.Nxf4 gxf3 32.Kxf3 Bf5 33.Rh1 Ke7 34.Rag1 Kd6 35.Rh5 Rxh5 36.Nxh5 Bh4 Black: depth 13: time 7 min
(+5.00):22...Nf7.
Best
1. (1.68): 22...Nxe4 23.dxe4[] Be5 24.Bd2[] Qc7[] 25.Nxg5[] Bd7 26.Nf3 Rag8 27.Nxe5 Qxe5 28.Rf1 d3 29.Rae1 Qd4+ 30.Rf2 Rh4 31.Bxf4 Rgh8 32.Be3 Qe5 33.Rf4 Qd6 White: depth 15: 6 min:
(+4.13):23.Bxf4.
Best,
1. (5.00): 23.Nxf6 Kxf6 24.Bxf4[] gxf4 25.g5+[] Kg7 26.g6 Bxf5 27.gxf7+ Kxf7 28.Ne5+[] Kf8 29.Nxc6[] Qxe1+ 30.Rxe1[] Rg8 31.Qxg8+[] Kxg8 32.Ne7+ Kf7 33.Nxf5[] Kf6 34.Nd6 Rg8+ 35.Kf2 Rh8 36.Ne4+ Kf5 37.Nxc5 Rh2+ 38.Kf3 White: depth 15: 7 min:
(+2.76):24.g5.
Best,
1. (4.86): 24.Nxf6 Qd8 25.Nh5+ Kg8 26.Nxf4 Nh6 27.Ne5 Bd7 28.Nxd7 Qxd7 29.Re6 Rc8 30.Ng6 Rh7 31.Rae1 Ra8 32.Ne7+ Kh8 33.f6 Nf7 34.Rxc6 Re8 35.g5 Black:
(+8.23):25...Nh6.
(+12.80):27...Bg4.
White:
(+6.90):28.Nxg4. Best, Re7+, +12.80.
Black
(+#8);29...Ng3.
and White wins with a Knight in hand,
move 34. |
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| Sep-23-10 | | ZUGZWANG67: Middle of the game where Black has an extra piece. But White has compensation. He has a pawn, the more active pieces, pressure on the K-side and the e-file and 2 dangerous connected passed pawns far in Black's zone. 26.f6+ and:
a) 26...Bxf6 27.Nxf6 Kxf6?? 28.Qg5+ mate.
b) 26...Kf8 27.g7+ wins the R.
c) 26...Kg8 27.g7 (27.Nd6 Bd7!) 27...Rh7 28.Neg5! and Black can't keep his R AND prevent mate. Time to check.
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Not bad, except I missed the obligation Black had to avoid check at g4. |
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| Sep-23-10 | | Patriot: Wow...Am I the only one that found this sequence?
<C) 26...Kg8 27.g7 Rh7 28.f7+! Kxf7 29.Nd6+ Kf6 (29...Kg8 30.Re8#) 30.Qg5#After my analysis, I played over variation C and saw that I missed a big possibility: 28...Nxf7 This fails to the pretty line 29.Nf6+! Bxf6 30.Re8#> |
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| Sep-23-10 | | BOSTER: <LIFE Master AJ> But what would say all your machines including Grafty, Fritz and other if black sacr. his bishop after white played 19.hxg4 and black 19...Bxf5. |
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| Sep-23-10 | | Patriot: <BOSTER> If black played 19...Bxf5, my machine would tell black "You're crazy!". 20.gxf5 Nxf5 21.Ne4 Ne3 22.Bxe3 dxe3 23.Re2 Rg8 24.Rg2 is what Fritz gives. According to Fritz, white has a 1.16 pawn advantage. Fritz agrees with black's move, 19...Rh8, with a slight advantage to white (0.30). |
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Later Kibitzing> |
Kibitzing
sac: 23.Bxf4