Dec-31-15
 | | Penguincw: Last Thursday puzzle of the year, last puzzle of the day of the year. It's Thursday, but can I get it? For this puzzle, the user is white. White is Reddy. Hehe... Regarding the actual puzzle, uh, I got the right idea, which was to move the knight and attack f6, but I chose the route of 14.Nxg6. Not going to further comment on that, but happy last day of 2015 everyone! |
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Dec-31-15
 | | patzer2: Missed what should have been obvious in today's Thursday new year's eve puzzle. I saw the possibility 14. Nfxd5 cxd5 15. Qf6, but missed 15...Rg8 16. Nb5!  (+8.34 @ 21 depth, Deep Fritz 15) in the position below 
click for larger viewwith a decisive attack.
After 14. Nfxd5 cxd5 15. Qf6 a6, it's clearly obvious 16. Qxh8 (+3.50 @ 24 depth, Deep Fritz 15) is winning. What's not so obvious is that the alternative 16. Nb5! (position below) 
click for larger viewis an even stronger reply, as White's attack is absolutely crushing after 16. Nb5! axb5 17. Bxb5+ Nd7 18. Qxh8+ Bf8 19. Rxh7 (+5.45 @ 21 depth, Deep Fritz 15). P.S.: Black's decisive error was the not-so-obvious 13...Qc7?, allowing 14. Nfxd5! . Instead, 13...Qd7 14. Ng2  or 13...Qe7 14. e4 keeps Black in the fight. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | diagonalley: wow!... that was tricksy.... <diagonalley>: nul points :-( |
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| Dec-31-15 | | dnp: yeah I thought 16. N-b5 would be pretty decisive. Don't use engines, I think it is cheating a bit, prefer to use my own instinct. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | stacase: Ha!
Threatening mate and forcing a defense while you go grab a Rook or something is a great move. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | Geronimo: I got the first two moves on pure instinct, sensing an enormous positional advantage for white after 15.Qf6. Point? No. Because I didn't even clock the big threat of 16.Nb5 for the decisive blow. So I lazily thought, 'meh! That's probably it, but maybe not.' Typical for me: positional instincts without the tactical follow-through. I think this might be the lasting damage of a decade of 5-minute games. OTB in a slow match would I have the patience to think it out? I hope so. Even if 'given' half the point, I'd probably have to give it back. :-( And happy new year to one and all! |
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| Dec-31-15 | | goodevans: <14.Nfxd5 Bxd5> also needs to be considered, which is a tad deeper than the game line: <15.Nxd5 cxd5 16.Qxf6 Rg8 17.Bb5+ Nd7 18.Rxh7> and the black position crumbles. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | mel gibson: I saw it after about 2 minutes.
The more I looked the worse the position for black.
Black placed himself where he could be Queen checked by the Knight on f4.
Black also has a weak pawn on f6
giving an attack to it's Rook on h8.
Black made the wrong move on 13...Qc7.
Black should have moved 13...Qd7.
DR4 64 bit gives a score of -0.46 for Black with the better move at 13.
Depth 19.
Then when Black plays the wrong move:
White plays 14 Nfxd5 the score is
+3.01 for White - Depth 15.
But Black with the computer does not take the Knight on d5 with the pawn but with the Bishop on f8 which attacks white's Queen & forces a swap with the white Knight. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | AccretionPower: a bit confused: I was aiming to get the rook on the h file and I think that 14. Nfxd5 is the solution, but I couldn't see past 14. Nfxd5 Bxd5 15. Nxd5 Qf7 Not sure this is a medium puzzle, but interesting nonetheless thanks. |
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Dec-31-15
 | | agb2002: White has a bishop and a knight for the bishop pair. Black is about to castle long, assuming it is legal.
Black's development leaves a lot to desire, in particular the defenseless rook on h8 and the pawn on f6, the diagonal a4-e8 (weaker because the lsb went to f7) and the knight on f8 (blocking rook communication) suggest 14.Nfxd5: A) 14... Bxd5 15.Nxd5
A.1) 15... cxd5 16.Qxf6 Rg8 17.Bb5+ Nd7 18.Qe6+
A.1.a) 18... Kf8 19.Rxh7 Nc5 (19... Rg7 20.Rh8+ Rg8 21.Rxg8#) 20.Qf6+ Qf7 21.Q(R)xf7#. A.1.b) 18... Kd8 19.Qxg8+ Nf8 20.Qxd5 + - [R+3P vs N]. A.1.c) 18... Be7 19.Qxg8+ Bf8 20.Rxh7 Rd8 21.Qf7#.
A.2) 15... Qf7 16.Qxf6 and White reaches an ending with two extra pawns (16... Qxd5 17.Qxh8). B) 14... cxd5 15.Qxf6 Rg8 16.Nb5 (probably better than 16.Bb5+ Nd7 17.Rxh7 Rf8 18.Rdh1) 16... Qe7 17.Nxd6+ followed by 18.Qxf7 wins decisive material. C) 14... Qd8 15.Nxf6+ wins a second pawn with an overwhelming position. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | morfishine: This is an "only" position and the only move is <14.Nfxd5> ***** |
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| Dec-31-15 | | dfcx: Black's f6 pawn is hanging. This leads to
14.Nxd5
A. 14....cxd5 15.Qxg6 Rg8 16.Nb5 gets the bishop back with two pawns B. 14...Bxd5 15.Nxd5 cxd5 16. Qxg6 Rg8 17.Bb5+ Nd7 18.Rxh7 wins |
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Dec-31-15
 | | Willber G: I tried:
14. Nfxd5 cxd5
15. Qxf6 Rg8
16. Bb5 Nd7
17. Rxh7 Rf8
with a plan of Rdh1 but I didn't take it further. |
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Dec-31-15
 | | thegoodanarchist: Black picked a weird time to resign. After getting pushed around for 30 moves the ending was rather anticlimactic. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | Sularus: Funny I only considered the knight move as the first move. So N4 has to move but to where? I tried Ne6 and Nxg6 but failed to follow up, then briefly considered N4xd5 but couldn't make it work.
Oh well. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | Longview: this looks like a game where White has gained the advantage but black actually lost on time??? I got the right idea where to start but did not choose the move chosen. Interesting strategy to get up an exchange which was where I was going with sacs. His way was better. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | jith1207: <patzer2> I considered the line you have stated seeing the threat of Nb5. This I will take full point for me today. ;-) After all, it's new year's eve. Happy new year, everybody. |
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Dec-31-15
 | | kevin86: this was a tough one! I saw the first move, but died out after that. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | ndg2: Apart from 13..Qc7 (Qe7 is needed) black doesnt't seem to have made major mistakes. But even with 13..Qe7 white is just better. This system against the Dutch just seems to be good?!? |
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| Dec-31-15 | | wtpyy: I didn't see any posters dealing with the possibility 14Nfd5 Bd5 16Nd5 cd5 17Qf6 Rg8 17Bb5+ Nd7 18Qe6+ Kf8; when white has the choice of taking the knight, perhaps by Bd7 to forestall Re8, or playing Rh7 first, probably best, in which case it appears he will still win the pinned knight and the very best black can hope for is to exchange pieces and head for a hopeless endgame three pawns down. Like most posters I spent a few minutes solving this problem (I think partially because of the red herring on g6)and perhaps also because it was midnight. it took me several minutes to see Qe6+ which was the coup de grace in the above variation. |
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| Dec-31-15 | | Sularus: <chrisowen>
exactly |
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| Dec-31-15 | | CHESSTTCAMPS: Material is essentially even, with white having two active knights against black's bishop pair. Black is uncastled, with a weak spot at f6 that is eyed by a white queen that indirectly threatens black's Rh8. These features, plus the semi-open h-file and opportunities at b5 suggest a profitable knight offer: 14.Nfxd5! gets two pawns back quickly, with much more in sight. A. 14... cxd5 15.Qxf6 Rg8 16.Nb5 Q moves 17.Nxd6+ and black must lose an additional piece. B. 14... Bxd5 15.Nxd5 cxd5 16.Qxf6 Rg8 17.Bb5+ Nd7 18.Rxh7 Rd8 19.Qe6+ wins Nd7. All I have time for - I don't see any better defenses anyway. Happy New Year to all kibitzers! |
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| Jan-01-16 | | MindCtrol9: I think it is not difficult to see that 14.Nfd5 is the obvious move in the game.I saw 14.Nfd5 Bd5 15.Nd5 cd5 16.Qf6(threatening the R)...Rb8 17.Bb5+ Nd7 17.Rh7 on this cellphone I use to post. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 14.Nfxd5