Lower Rated Player - Target Practice

Here's some nice target practice for lower rated players:




White has just played 11.f4 which is a costly mistake.

Play black and exploit white's weaknesses.

Solution and response at end of this PGN (Move 11) ...



Black To Move (Move 12)



Black To Move ... (Move 13)



Black To Move ... (Move 14)



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Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
[b]Here's some nice target practice for lower rated players:

Black To Move (Move 12)

How does one 'hide' an answer in a forum post?

I'm just so lazy. As soon as I saw Bc5+ and Nf2+ I stopped looking for something better.

Originally posted by hedonist
I'm just so lazy. As soon as I saw Bc5+ and Nf2+ I stopped looking for something better.

Em. Lasker used to say: when you see a good move, don't play it; keep looking, you might find something better.

I found out how to 'hide' a reply. So here goes,


I'm not knocking your proposed solution, but might I suggest ...

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Originally posted by moonbus
12. ... NxP. If White plays KxP, then 13. Qh4 mate. If White refuses the N, then Qh4 anyway. This eliminates White's in-between defensive move h3.

I don't think your suggestion needs to be hidden. I hope you don't mind if I unhide it so I can comment on it!

This particular mate is one of my favourite boilerplate mates. I love the little dance the queen does from h4 to g3 and back to h4 (or h5-g6-h5 if it's White doing the mating). After Qh4, the inbetween defensive move of h3 is, in fact, the only way White can prevent the immediate Qxh2 mate without giving up his queen for a knight. Then, after Qg3, hxg4 is the only way White can prevent Qh2 mate next move (again, apart from giving up his queen). That is why Qh4-g3-h4# is so wonderful - it doesn't rely on White blundering - all his moves are forced!

Your alternative of Nxh2 instead of Qh4 fails to g3, which protects the h4 square.

FL--

Yes, I take your point that 12. Qh4 is a forcing line which does not depend on any further blunders by White, but then, the whole puzzle depends on a blunder (namely, the untimely advance of the White's BP). He cannot avoid mate "apart from giving up his queen" -- well that says it all, doesn't it: White's position is simply untenable.

Over the board, I'm sure I would have played 12. Nxh2 on instinct without bothering to calculate.

I've had just two games (both as White) which ended with the Qh5-g6-h5# shuffle. It's definitely not something I would have worked out over the board if I hadn't seen it before, but because I particular like this mating pattern I spotted it straight away in both games.

In contrast, I must have pulled off Philidor's Legacy hundreds of times in blitz and slow chess. It's so common that I get no more excited by games which end this way than by ones in which I nurture an early pawn advantage to a winning endgame forty or so moves later.

No doubt about it, the queen shuffle is entertaining for spectators, too! There is another thread here at the forum in which a poster claims his opponents claim his games are boring; winning a 1p+ endgame doesn't rate as 'entertaining' I guess... I'd have put my money on Steinitz over Morphy had they ever played a match though.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
I've had just two games (both as White) which ended with the Qh5-g6-h5# shuffle. It's definitely not something I would have worked out over the board if I hadn't seen it before, but because I particular like this mating pattern I spotted it straight away in both games.

In contrast, I must have pulled off Philidor's Legacy hundreds of times in blitz and s ...[text shortened]... es in which I nurture an early pawn advantage to a winning endgame forty or so moves later.

It has taken me over a week to fully appreciate what you are saying, but I think I have had the same feeling.

In the position above, the mate comes almost "out of the blue" because the position looks OK superficially.

With Philidor's Legacy (smothered mates), whenever I have had them, I was already winning and in the midst of an attack, and it was simply a way to finish. Almost all the time the other person also sees it, so it never actually happens.

When I first saw the pattern above, I was the victim, which is a valuable memory device.