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It's pretty obvious that <24.Nf6+> is the opening move, since the N is immune (24...Nxf6? 25.exf6 forking Q and mate, thus winning the Q). Black's only playable move is <24...Kh8>

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Once again, the obvious move is <25.Qh4> which threatens Qxh7# and black still can't play 25...Nxf6? 26.exf6 gxf6 27.Rh3 with mate to follow. Black's best is <25...h6>

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Once again, white has an obvious move: <26.Qe4> threatening Qxh7#, and black can't stop it without taking the N (e.g. 26...g6? 27.Qh4! h5 28.Qg5 Kg7 29.Nxh5+ ). So, this time, black has to exchange knights: <26...Nxf6 27.exf6>

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Now, the queen must move (e.g. <27...Qc5>) allowing <28.fxg7+> (not 27.gxf6? allowing white to double attack the h-pawn with Qe3 and Rh3).

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The obvious move to start an attack against the black king is 24.Nf6+ Kh8 (24... Nxf6 25.exf6 wins due to 26.Qxg7# and 26.fxe7) 25.Qh4

A) 25... gxf6 26.Rh3 and mate in two.

B) 25... Nxf6 26.exf6

B.1) 26... gxf6 27.Rh3 as in A.

B.2) 26... Qc5 27.fxg7+ Kxg7 28.Rg3+ and mate in two.

B.3) 26... Qc7 27.fxg7+ Kxg7 28.Rg3+ Qxg3 (28... Kh8 29.Qf6#) 29.Qxg3 + - [Q vs R].

C) 25... h6 26.Qe4

C.1) 26... gxf6 27.Qh4

C.1.a) 27... Kg8 28.Qxh6 Ng7 29.Rg3 and mate next.

C.1.b) 27... Kg7 28.Rg3+ (28.Rh3 Rh8) 28... Kh7 29.Rh3 and mate in two.

C.2) 26... Nxf6 27.exf6

C.2.a) 27... gxf6 28.Qh4 as in C.1.

C.2.b) 27... Qc5 28.fxg7+ Kxg7 29.Rg3+ Kh8 (29... Kf6 30.Qh4+ and mate next) 30.Qh4 Kh7 (30... h5 31.Rg5 wins) 31.Qf6 Rg8 32.Qxf7+ Kh8 33.Rxg8+ Rxg8 34.Rxe6 Qg5 (threatens mate on c1 and g2) 35.Qf6+ with a won rook ending.

C.3) 26... g6 27.Qh4

C.3.a) 27... h5 28.Qg5 Nxf6 (28... Kg7 29.Nxh5+ wins) 29.exf6 and the double threat 30.Qh6+ Kg8 31.Qg7# and 30.fxe7 wins.

C.3.b) 27... Nxf6 28.exf6 as above.

Almost exactly what I was going to say.>

i do not see how white makes progress .....

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32. Qf6 threatens mate. 32 ..... Rg8

i do not see how white makes progress .....

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32. Qf6 threatens mate. 32 ..... Rg8

33 Qxf7+

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27 Q-KB4 27 PQR4
28 Q-QR6 ++

or if black takes Knight after 27 Q-KB4

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When I was divided as to the move played 28. Rd3 (as I knew that the Qd7 defence was a problem) or 28. Qh4 or 28. fxg7+ (but eventually realised this was unclear) so I thought that Black's defence more or less held but was probably a lost ending.

So in a game I would play the Bf6+ which is a fairly standard sacrifice in that kind of position. Qe4 I saw and it is a nice move.

So de facto, a la Tal (on a bad day after a night on the turps), I found the answer, more or less...

Everything is obvious when you see the game after the event. Kasparov's Immortal was "obvious".

I think it is an informative problem but it is deceptive as there are ways to go wrong.

For a GM these moves you claim are "obvious" are so, but for many of us players, less talented than yourself, who are grovelling and gibbering in the foetid mire the Sodomites at the bass of chess hierarchy, who struggle in the agony for our chess sins and omissions: find these problems rather difficult...

I have won and lost games against that line. The Qe1 idea, again "obvious" is I think from memory what computers like and is even theory but White played well. Black missed the best defence.

It is thematic but the moves aren't that easy to find as White has alternative moves. A key move later is the Rd3 move. Also Qe4 is nice to see and the importancc of the loose Q on e7 is a factor here also. Also this is a clear case showing how this strange idea of "more space" works in this case for White and the fact that Blacks rooks are not connected violates a "rule" that Watson would be worried isn't a rule (and it isn't in some positions but here it is). So a lot of positional (classical a la Fischer or Capablanca) and tactical themes are demonstrated.

Not insane but certainly quite difficult, especially OTB. This is where GMs show their ability to judge as well as calculate.

Well, I suppose I meant "obvious" in a relative sense. Given that this is a puzzle, we know that there is a tactic to be found.

If looking for a tactic, then I think that the key move 24.Nf6 should jump into view pretty quickly, as it creates mate threats and cannot be captured safely.

I think this is one of those "insane" puzzles where the key move and its immediate sequelae are obvious, but this is misleading in that they do not constitute a full solution. For that, you have to spend some time, calculate accurately, and be careful.

White has, of course, a plain advantage that he can convert into a win. That is a consequence of his relative king safety. With equal material, but with heavy pieces on, anyone whose king is exposed is likely in trouble.

But it is not all plain sailing for the first player, because he can't bring *all* of his forces to bear. He has his own back rank to watch, tying down the rook on e1, and making luft will also get in the way of his own attack.

Of course I easily found the moves leading to the forced knight exchange, but I stopped there, content with having exposed Black's king and confident that I could find a way to bring home the full point, so I can take only half-credit for this one.

Aw, give yourself the full credit if you like. ;-)

A similar statement can be made for the next couple moves IMO, and by then, it's getting pretty clear that black is in a bad way. I didn't know *how* bad until I ran it through the computer, but I at least knew that white would be happy with it.>

Yes. But remember that some players are not of your level. That said in general it is not one of those "random" games. I found most of the moves fairly easily. What fascinated me though, was the beauty of the position. But as Sunday puzzles go, it was not one of the real mind crusher's for sure.

As long as we learn from and enjoy these we don't get into traps of I saw this or I missed this therefore I failed nonsense.

I once tried to solve a problem (not on here) that had been composed. I can often solve these, even quite difficult ones, without moving the pieces, but this one had me... Then after some time I thought I had the answer, then looked it up. I was wrong.

It was a beautiful solution. So I decided to play a joke on my fellow club members. I'm known to be a fairly "tactical" and "attacking" player (altho many of my games I have to defend for hours!)...but I arranged to have a friend bring in the magazine with the problem. I took it from him and opened it to the puzzle as if I hadn't seen it. I said: "I will solve this, no matter what it is, in a few minutes if not seconds."

I set up and announced immediately I had solved it.....

Now for those watching I asked them if they saw a possible solution to whisper in my ear. One player, another oldie, found move one. Another young chap from Hong Kong who was visiting whispered one move, then the next, then the next, and finally the whole solution!!

Also there were many young mostly Chinese kids who were pretty sharp as many had coaches. I noticed that young players often place the pieces lazily on the squares. I like to put them dead centre...

I was playing a game against a B grade player and I had launched an attack. My opponent found a good resource which not only stopped my attack but won a piece. I played on looking for a counter. Then I noticed that I had a chance for a Q sac, then a B check, then a back rank mate....So I did two things: like the kids, I put my Q half way between two squares, then I pretended I had blundered another piece. Excited, my opponent didn't notice where my Q was (or it was hard as I had it "camouflaged"!) and also greed caused him to strike...I immediately played the Q sac leading to mate.