Dec-12-14
 | | profK: Cute finish. Black has an overwhelming potential K-side attack but to pick the forced quickie mate adds that extra bit of sparkle. |
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Oct-12-16
 | | Phony Benoni: If the Black rook were on f6 instead of f8, 25. Qxh2+ would be obvious. But simply 25...Rf6 gives White time to guard the second rank. . Maybe 25...Be5? Now 26.Rf2 fails to 26...Qxe4 27.fxe4 Rxf2, and White must give back the queen to stop mate. Bug 26.Qe2 or 26.Qc2 seem sufficient. We must stop White from guard the second rank, but how? What happens if we strike thre immediately with 25. ..Qxh2+ 26.Kxh2 Rf6. Hmm. Very interesting... |
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| Oct-12-16 | | dfcx: The white pieces are too far from the king once exposed. 25...Qxh2 cracks open the shell
26.Kxh2 Rf6
with 27...Rh6# to follow
White may be able to delay the mate for a few moves like 27.Bxh7+ Kh8
28.Bg6 Rxg6
29.Qe1 Rh6+
30.Qh4 Rxh4# |
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Oct-12-16
| | patzer2: Saw 25...Qxh2+ immediately as my candidate move for today's Wednesday puzzle solution. However, it took me a minute or two to see that mate after 25...Qxh2+ 26. Kxh2 Rf6  is unstoppable. After 26...Rf6, White can stretch it out to mate-in-four with 27.Bxh7+ Kh8 28.Bg6 Rfxg6 29.f4 Rh6+ 30.Qh5 Rhxh5#. White decisive mistake appears to be 21. gxf4? allowing 21...e4  to (-1.66 @ 21 depth, Deep Fritz 15). Instead, 21. Bf3 Rc5 22. Nb4 = (-0.11 @ 20 depth, Deep Fritz 15) appears to give White an even fighting chance. Earlier in the opening, instead of 8. Bxf6, I prefer the popular move 8. Na3 as in White's win in L Dominguez vs C Lupulescu, 2016. |
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| Oct-12-16 | | YouRang: Wednesday 25...?
click for larger view
Quite easy, although maybe because I've seen puzzles like this a few times. White's king is trapped on the h-file by Rg5, and it's protected from ...Qh4# only by Ph2. If that pawn were out of the way, then a rook on the h-file would be just as good as a queen -- and we happen to have a rook on f8 that can get there in two moves. So, let's spend the queen on eliminating that pawn, which leads to the force sequence <25...Qxh2+ 26.Kxh2 Rf3>:
click for larger view
White's pieces look like the keystone cops. They want to help, but they can't get out of each other's way. Despite having an in-between move, they have no effective way to stop ...Rh6#. |
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| Oct-12-16 | | AlicesKnight: 25.... Qxh2+; 26.Kxh2 Rf6 looks good - is it that simple? Apparently so. 21...e4 makes the difference, cleverly gaining tempo, clearing the rank and attacking the N. |
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| Oct-12-16 | | diagonalley: yep... and easier than yesterday's IMO |
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| Oct-12-16 | | et1: if you spotted it i the end it was easy but the first move was so brutal that I missed it completely |
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Oct-12-16
 | | agb2002: Black has the bishop pair for a bishop, a knight and a pawn. White is about to play Qc2, reinforcing the second rank, and threatens Nxa6. Black can deliver mate with 25... Qxh2+ 26.Kxh2 Rf6 (26... Rf4 27.Qe1 Be5 28.Kh1 Rf6 29.Qh4 + -) 27.Bxh7+ Kh(f)8 (27... Kxh7 28.Qc2+ Kg8 29.Qg2 + -) and mate in two. |
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| Oct-12-16 | | Abdel Irada: ∞
"Allee allee outsinfree!"
White's kingside is awfully lonely. This invites us to look at ideas otherwise unthinkable. <<+> 25. ...Qxh2+
26. Kxh2▢, Rf6>
Black threatens 27. ...Rh6#. It is possible to delay this, as by <27. Bxh7+, Kf7
28. Bg6+, Rfxg6
29. f4, Rh6+
30. Qh5, Rhxh5#>,
but this only proves that the horizon effect can cross the barrier from computer to human. If the rook were already on f6, this would be a Monday problem. The only thing that makes it at all challenging is the need to realize that even with a "free" move after the queen sac, White has no defense. ∞ |
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| Oct-12-16 | | saturn2: <patzer2 White decisive mistake appears to be 21. gxf4? ...Instead, 21. Bf3> after 21.Bf3 fxg3 the bishop is attacked twice. So it seems to me black wins a pawn or the bishop. |
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| Oct-12-16 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: My kind of puzzle solution -- give the opponent a tempo in hand and hope that you're not overlooking a way for him to use it effectively. I checked that about 5 times before I felt confident I was correct. I'd have done the same over the board -- after all, if the combo is real, you have no further use for the time on your clock. :) |
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| Oct-12-16 | | whiteshark: <25...Qxh2+ 26.Kxh2 Rf6>, and that's it! 2files# w/ ♖♖ |
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| Oct-12-16 | | bachiller: Easy..., once you've found it. But it took me a few minutes: first, I tried to make QxB work,which led nowhere; then, Qxh2+, Kxh2, Rf4, but got confused with Qe1 (and Be5, etc.). It wasn't but after two or three minutes that I found Rf6. As a side effect, I felt miserable for not being able to think of it in the first instance. Chess is a tough affair. |
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Oct-12-16
| | patzer2: <saturn2> I don't see a double threat after 21. Bf3 fxg3. My computer indicates it's level after 21. Bf3 fxg3 22. fxg3 = (0.00 @ 24 depth, Deep Fritz 15). |
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Oct-12-16
 | | kevin86: The rooks hem in the white king and there's no escape! |
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| Oct-12-16 | | saturn2: <patzer ..after 21. Bf3 fxg3..> My mistake was that I only looked at hxg3. |
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Oct-12-16
 | | steinitzfan: This one seems to have created a mirage in my mind. After the queen sac I thought White just needed to cover his second rank -- but that only works if the king has time to pull back to the first rank. |
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| Oct-12-16 | | Aunt Jemima: Got it! At first I was going to follow up with ...Rf4 but I realized that Qe1 would defend, so I switched to ...Rh6. |
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| Oct-12-16 | | Whitehat1963: I've been stumped by many a Monday or Tuesday, so surely this was easy for a Wednesday considering I got it in just a few seconds. |
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May-14-22
 | | HeMateMe: black was playing Ketchup. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 25...Qxh2+