<PinnedPiece> That is no good IMO. You are sacrificing the bishop; you have to know before you do it that the sacrifice is sound. If you do not then you are just guessing and hoping which is not a good recipe especially when you are playing OTB and no one puts out a sign that says "this is a puzzle position".

Of course, and to contradict myself, here is what Kasparov said about his position agianst Topalov in 1999:

<When I made this move, I saw only the repetition of the moves and the opportunity to continue the attack, though the whole picture of the combination was not yet clear. I already saw the idea 30…Rd6 31.Rb6, but I still could not get rid of the thought that all lines should be checked to the very end. Maybe Black will find some opportunity for defense. Topalov spent about 15 minutes thinking.

I walked around the hall – rather, I fled – and at these feverish moments it seemed to me that there were very few participants and that most of the games had already been finished. My mind worked only in one direction, and one of these moments brought me the image of the whole cluster of various lines. I saw the move 37.Rd7. I don't even remember how this line was formed in my head, but I saw the whole line up to the end. I saw the journey of the black King after 36.Bf1, 37.Rd7 and I could no longer suppress my excitement, because at that same moment I realized that the move 24…Kb6 ruined the whole construction.>

So maybe you are right:).

If Black captures the pawn with 32...exf4, then the immediate clearance of the long diagonal enables White to play the winning pin combination 33. Rxg7! Qxg7! 34. Bxd4 Rg5 35. Qf2 .

If Black declines the capture, as in the game, then White plays 33. exf5 when White's strong threats from this post (e.g. bringing the Knight to f5 for a decisive attack) force its recapture. Of course the capture of the pawn on e5 (i.e. 33...Rxe5) comes at the cost of removing one or more of the King's defenders and allowing the decisive follow-up 34. Bxh6! (today's puzzle solution).

Yes! He has described my thinking perfectly!

In my dreams.

The line in the game as played out is straightforward and fairly easy to find (for a Friday).

What makes this position a Friday level are the lines shown by <patzer2> should black decline the bishop sacrifice.

We've got a R-Q-R battery on the g-file dying to be unsprung. I'd love to clear away the bishop, so 34.Bxh6 is an obvious try. Black seems to have little choice except 34...Bxh6 (e.g. if 34...Bf8 then 35.Qh3 looks deadly). Now comes 35.Rg8+, and the rook of course cannot be taken, so 35...Kh7 is forced.

That part was easy to figure out, but now we've got to keep a clear picture of this position in our heads to figure out the continuation. I couldn't see anything else to do with rooks or queen, but I've got a knight in checking range, so 36.Nf6+ forcing 36...Qxf6.

Here, I spent a lot of time doing "what next?" analysis. I've just wagered a bishop and knight that I can make this attack stick, but there seems to be a shortage of unguarded squares near the black king.

I noticed that the weakest squares were on the 8th rank and on g6, while g7 is heavily guarded. I also noticed that my next move had to be forcing, since anything else would give black time to defend.

This pretty much left me witht he crazy move 37.Rh8+. It's forcing enough, and I could see that black's only choice was 37...Qxh7 (...Kxh7 38.Qg8#). For some reason it took me a couple loops to visualize that I had 38.Qg6#, as if g6 were still guarded by the queen or that the queen wasn't blocking the king's escape to h8.

The final nuance:

36 ♘f6+ ♕xf6 37 ♖h8+!! ♕xh8 (or ♔xh8 38 ♕g8#) 38 ♕g6# .

34 Rh5 Bxg7+
35 Nxg7

This is because although this leads to a win for white; at least the mate is not calculated, as opposed to the mate in 4 of the game line.

Not bad, not bad. Actually, Bxh6 is the only really standing out move in this position.

-ML-
<34.Bxh6> just some deflections here and there to reveal Qg2 if Black accepts the sac. White opens up the h-file if see doesn't.

/A\
<34....Bxh6> now the combination of today starts, where three key moves are following.

<35.Rg8†! Kh7 (Qxg8 36.Qxg8‡) 36.Nf6†!> deflection of the Black Queen of f7 from where g8 was being watched.

<37.Rh8†!!> and finally the g-file opens to Qg2.

<37....Qxh8 (Kxh8 38.Qg8‡) 38.Qg6‡ 1-0>

/B\
Okay, so no acceptence. Then what? I'm using a different format than usual as I'm actually not sure what's right or wrong. Bg7 is not feeling well at the moment, and even though protected four times, he's also attacked four times so the Black pieces are paralyzed.

<34....Bf6> meets the same combination: <35.Rg8† Kh7 (Qxg8 36.Qxg8‡) 36.Nxf6† Qxf6 37.Rh8†> and Bh6 plays of no significance, as White follows <37....Qxh8 (Kxh8 38.Qg8‡) 38.Qg6‡ 1-0> anyhow.

<34....Bf8> releases tension but meets the rather easy: <35.Bxf8 > and once again immune, but now with piece gain because of <35....Qxf8 36.Rg8† Kh7 (Qxg8 37.Qxg8‡) 37.Qg6‡ 1-0> and that's painfull with so many pieces otb for Black.

Lets say Black utilizes the most optimal defensive move by moving the only piece not in defense of Bg7, <34....Rh5>. <35.Bxg7† Nxg7> seems forced with , but now I also notice in the kibitzing <35.Rf3! > and that is of course stronger.