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| Feb-09-13 | | Once: Wow - what a position! <FSR> is exactly right. As a puzzle this isn't so hard. King moves draw so the puzzle solution must be the surprising Qh3. But would I have seen it in a game? Or would I have offered my opponent a draw - which is of course an option not open to use as puzzle solvers? Having said that, I think there is a way to rationalise to Qh3... Here's the starting position:
click for larger viewThe battle lines are drawn. White is the only one who is going to win this, and he will do that by avoiding black's perpetual check. So how do we avoid the perp? First try ... king moves. And that's when we discover that the plan of running to d7 doesn't work. One way to get there is via g5-f6-e7. But as soon as the white king lands on g5, black plays Qf4+ and we are forced back: 
click for larger viewAnother try is to get to d7 via f5-f6-e7. But that doesn't work either: 86. Kg4 Qg2+ 87. Kf5 Qf3+ 
click for larger viewThe white king is forced onto g5 again, black plays Qf4+ again ... and we're still not making progress. That's when it hits us. The problem is that white's escape route is too narrow. The white king can't squeeze through the tight e7-d7 gap between the two white queens, whilst all the time avoiding checks from the black queen. The North West passage is too tightly packed with ice. The solution is startling. To widen the North West passage we need to move one of our queens. And that means sacrificing her on h3, as it's the only way of breaking the endless sequence of black queen checks. Suddenly the escape route is big enough and black doesn't have his nasty Qf4+ trick. Then comes the $64,000 question. We can avoid the perp if we do that, but is it enough to win? And here I think we have to play on general principles. After 86. Qh3, we get to tuck our king away on the black queenside, but the black king is still vulnerable. Our pawns are slightly further ahead than black's. We have the perp if all else fails. So I think, yes, we can play 86. Qh3+ in the real world. But it still rates a "wow" from me. Great puzzle. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | vinidivici: I kind of upset about today puzzle. I need only about 2 minutes to get 86.Qh3 and just need further 3 minutes to know the king would save in the upper par of the board. Until only then the white queen could fling the counter attack. Yesterday puzzle is harder than today. I need about 10 minutes to calculate exactly the line with double rooks sacrifices. After good puzzle from Monday till Friday, i can say that this puzzle is a drawback for this week. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | gofer: What a treat! A whole queen up on a Saturday!
But within a few seconds it becomes apparent that we have to drop the extra queen to avoid a draw... 86 Qh3 Qxh3+
87 Kg5 ...
The white king has an escape route along the snake that is "f5, f6, e6, e7, d7" to eventually get Qe8 into the game and start ripping pawns off the board... ~~~
Hmmm, yep. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | goldenbear: That was easy because it was a puzzle. I wonder if I would have found that at the board short of time and on the 86th move... |
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| Feb-09-13 | | morfishine: Oops, the Black b-pawn can move |
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| Feb-09-13 | | vinidivici: <That was easy because it was a puzzle. I wonder if I would have found that at the board short of time and on the 86th move...> Exactly.
This is a PUZZLE..... :)
No psychological pressure, no intimidating...no time-control. I miss the real match already. I always interested of the Saturday and Sunday puzzles. Sunday is very special actually. I could say that, usually from Monday until Saturday, its kind of convenient climb to the top.
And a steep climb from the Saturday to Sunday.
So watch out for tomorrow. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | abuzic: Again white could as well finish and faster with 81.fxe8Q+, fxe8B+ or fxe8N. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | TheTamale: Ugh, I knew Qh3 would be the first move, because it's a puzzle-like move and it gives the White king somewhere to go, but man, I REALLY didn't want that to be the move. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | David2009: G Moehring vs J Kaikamdzozov, 1978 White 86? White's problem is to avoid the perpetual check. The only effective way seems 86.Qh3 Qxh3+ 87.Kg5 and penetrates e.g. 87...Qg3+ 88.Kf6. Time
to check and post a Crafty End Game Trainer
link:
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Got the general idea. Puzzle position:
click for larger view
linked interactively to Crafty End Game Trainer:
http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-t.... The EGT defends differently from the game line, but it is possible to win in the line starting
86.Qh3 Qxh3+ 87.Kg5 Qh6+ 88.Kf5 Qh3+ 89.Kf6 Qh4+ 90.Ke6 Qxe4 91.Kxd6 Qf3 92.Qxe5 etc. Enjoy finding the win (Q+4 Pawns vs Q in the line I found, but even then winning is not trivial). I think I made heavy work of finishing the EGT off (41 moves and one promotion until the queens are finally exchanged). |
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| Feb-09-13 | | MiCrooks: The immediate Qxb3 is really no better. Qf7+ Kh8 Qe8+ Kg7/Kh7 Qg6+ now Kh8 achieves desired position with the King stalemated on h8 and the King free to walk up and eat the d pawn with threat of mate so Kf6 Qf3+ Ke7 on now White eats the d6 pawn with his King and walks it in for the win. Key here is that Black cannot push the b pawn to try to Queen a pawn of his own as White Queens too with mate. Here Kf8 instead allows Qxd6 getting the pawn rolling with check. He will get the e pawn with check too if the King tries to run to the queenside, and if not he gets to set up the same position again by bringing the King up. So other defenses no better really. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | patzer2: There's an old saying that goes "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me." After 86. Kg5? Qf4+ 87. Kh5 Qh2+, I'd realize 87. Kg5? leads to a draw by perpetual after 87...Qf4+ 88. Kg5 Qh2+ =. I was fooled once by today's Saturday puzzle problem in hastily picking 86. Kg5? Given a second chance, I'd play 87. Qh3! -- realizing it's the only move to avoid a draw by three-fold repetition. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | theagenbiteofinwit: Easiest Saturday puzzle I ever solved.
It took about 30 seconds to solve.
Here's my calculations:
<There are only three legal moves> <The puzzle is rated "very difficult"> <Sack the queen> |
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| Feb-09-13 | | kevin86: In order to avoid the draw,white had to give up the extra queen! AND,win he did. |
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Feb-09-13
 | | Phony Benoni: Anybody who has seen the famous endgame study composed by Mitrofanov in 1967 would at least consider <86.Qh3>. It contains an idea that is not easily forgotten. I won't go into all the details, but you can find more about the study here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopol...
The heart of the study is this position, six moves in: 
click for larger viewWhere White's only winning move is <7.Qg5!!>, deflecting the Black queen from saving the game after 8.Ka6 Qe2+.
The study continues <7...Qxg5+ 8.Ka6 Bxa7 9.c7!!> 
click for larger viewAnd White wins. |
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Feb-09-13
 | | Jimfromprovidence: I tried to see what happens if black's queen goes all out to take pawns. So, I diverged with 88...Qh4+ and what I came up with was 89 Ke6 Qe4 90 Kxd6 Qb1 91 Kc7 Qxb3 92 Qxe5. 
click for larger viewMaterial is even but white has an unstoppable passed pawn. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | Lil Swine: There is an entire chapter was devoted to this type of deflection in "The Joys of Chess" by Christian Hesse |
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| Feb-09-13 | | Patriot: 86.Kg5 Qf4+ 87.Kh5 Qh2+ doesn't make progress.
86.Kg4 Qf4+ 87.Kh3 Qf3+ 88.Kh4 and now a check such as 88...Qf4+ 89.Qg4 or 88...Qh1+ 89.Qh3. Bizarre and interesting is 86.Qh3: 86...Qxh3+ 87.Kg5 Qg3+ 88.Kf6 for example. Black forces the king into a better position. 88...Qf4+ 89.Ke6 Qxe4 looks complicated. I'll go with 86.Kg4. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | Patriot: I saw some merit in 86.Qh3 and there were too many checks for me to consider in 86.Kg4. For example, 86.Kg4 Qf4+ 87.Kh3 Qf3+ 88.Kh4 Qf4+ loses but 88...Qf2+ draws. This makes sense to avoid a queen interposition. Generalizations don't replace calculation in critical positions, but they can point you in the right direction on what to calculate. In other words, here I should have considered 88...Qf2+ first to avoid white's queen coming to the defense. Fascinating problem! |
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| Feb-09-13 | | DarthStapler: I got the first move |
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Feb-09-13
 | | FSR: <Phony Benoni> You seem really impressed by Mitrofanov's study. Are we to infer that you've never had a position where your two pawns defeated your opponent's queen, knight, and bishop? Incidentally, the Wikipedia article you cited was written by "Krakatoa," a.k.a. me. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php... |
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Feb-09-13
| | Phony Benoni: <FSR> Of course I've had a position like that. You feel sort of bad about winning on time in those circumstances, but a point is a point. I did pull off sort of a Mitrofanov Deflection once, but it wouldn't have worked without my opponent's cooperation: 
click for larger viewI'm White, and busted as usual. Basically, my chances rest on the fact that this is move 24, and Black (rated 2184) has about 30 minutes to reach move 50. Having nothing else to take advantage of, I played <24.Ne6>. This shouldn't make much difference, but two good things happened (1) My opponent wasted about five minutes on his reply; (2) He then went into a line where it made a difference. <24...Rxe6+ 25.Kf2 Nd4?> 25...Bd4+ was better, though it gets complicated.
<26.Bf3 Nxf3 27.d7!> And now we see why the rook needed to be on the eighth rank. Black thought himself down to one minute here, conceded a piece with 27...Bf6, and managed to make it to move 46 before his flag fell in a totally lost position. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | Ezzy: <chrisowen: Hear we have the dutifuls again cruise queens her bet in wait steady or que wrench in ermine rig a chin up exactly it down in jail for hindered flight 86.Qh3 I seance on manage for low in hard it enter in engaging royals 86...qxh3+ the king tromps again business freeing 87.Kg5 ah her majesty in sidestep caughts 87...qg3+ at glib head light harangue muscling 88.Kf6 let's go crazy it anothers suffered 88...Qf3+ question head-over 89.Ke7 in chirpy thing is the door e4 it doctor in dig have for heading above really it is king in h7 oh joy to the whirled it he in her juicy it another bind grass is greener really it the wrong side swindle in checks a gone for direct it youth in fat of the land as bootings ogle in good game thod in b3 hoofed her food for thought, mate in seven startings 90.Qh5+ in gob kings having clean path to mate in ring around we're jamming wejamming 90.Kg7 given in ego the point hassling why it gig in a bite am including a 91.qg4+ keen advocate some in chow-down a 91...Kh7 cable in mission it fetch in f6 back have spin effect in wheel it tirebusin go 92...Qf3+ tag a watch in wait now go blink headoff king low in f6 a nip the bud angle for every it is ignoble defeat after f3+ whence e7 numb in no more check success after b3 you lent in drummings boyohboyo 90.h5+ > Todays post - Level of difficulty - Very difficult/Insane. |
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| Feb-09-13 | | James D Flynn: 86.Qh3(not Kg4(not Kg5 Qf4+ 87 Kh5 repeats) Qf4+ 88.Kh3 Qf3+ 89.Kh2(not Kh4 Qf4+ 90.Qg4 Qh2+ 91.Qh3 Qf4+ repeats) Kf2+ 92.Kh1 Qf1+ repeats) Qxh3+ 87.Kg4 Qg3+ (the f4 square is not available) 88.Kf5 Qf4+ 89.Ke6 Qh6+ 90.Kd7 nad the White K is safe behind the Blac k pawns where it can be easily sheltered by the White Q and those pawns. The k and Q can now pick of the base of the Black pawn chain while the Black K is stuck on the h and g files and White will place his Q on f5 or e6 and the White K picks up the Black d pawn and escorts his own d pawn to queen and shelters, if necessary, on b5. |
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Feb-09-13
 | | GoldenKnight: This was easier than Monday. I got it right away. |
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Feb-10-13
| | FSR: The conclusion of this game raises the question why Black didn't play 82...Kg7 rather than 82...Kh7.
click for larger viewThen if 83.fxe8(Q)? Black really does draw by perpetual, even after the Qh3 sacrifice, since the black king keeps the White king out of f6. It's also a draw after 83.Qxe8? Qxf7 85.Qxf7+ Kxf7 86.Kh4 Kf6 87.Kh5 Kf7 88.Kg5 Kg7 or 88.Kh6 Kf6. Sadly for Black, 82...Kg7 would have allowed White an easy win with 83.fxe8(N)+! Kh7 (or 83...Kh8 84.Qf6+) 84.Qf5+ Qxf5+ 85.exf5. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 78.Qf6+