Good one - Got it (eventually).
The thought process went. As always I go for the King. 1.Nxa7 Kxa7 2.Qc5.
Qa5+ threats plus Rc3-a3+ threats and the Ne5 sac plan to stop the Black Queen
from scurrying to defend her King. All ideas I can work with and all going nowhere.
Too many defences, not enough bits in the attack. I hit one block
after another and my gut was telling me I was on the wrong track.
Scrap that one.
The Black Queen is short of squares, d6 and c7 are covered - can I trap her.
1.Rg1 Qxf3 2.Qh2+ and Rg3 do it.
....wait a minute...that was a CHECK!! (not to mention a very expensive Queen)
The Black pieces have the dreaded dark disease. The are all covering light squares.
It's Philidors Ugly Legacy. (the mate without the Queen sac.)
I'd have spotted it sooner if that Bishop was not on c8.
That Bishop was playing havoc with my mating patterns.
So the stem idea is to kick the Queen off of the h2-b8 diagonal and Qh2+.
I solved that puzzle in about 1/10th of a second - the wide-open b8-h2 diagonal jumped out like a stream of bat's piss, and when I saw the white knight on b5 it was clear that White just had to shift the black queen in order to inflict Death by Philidor.
Of course the great thing about the daily puzzle on chessgames.com is that they are from real games, in this case:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1753219
Hi Data-Fly.
"I solved that puzzle in about 1/10th of a second."
It was only after I rejected the Nxa7 sac I twigged it.
This pattern took over.
When I checked my first post I was surprised I did not see it quicker.
Possibly the wee diagram and colours they use at chessgamess.
Here it was much clearer. (good excuse that).
Most likely it's how I think. Sacs near the King first.
Originally posted by 64squaresofpain
Here's a puzzle I got from a book some of you may well be familiar with 'Journey to the Chess Kingdom':
White to move and mate in 3 moves (White moves up the board, black moves down)
[fen]8/8/1Q6/1pP5/k7/8/K7/8 w - - 0 1[/fen]
Try to solve in under 5 minutes 🙂 I'll be honest, took me longer
Took me about one minute, but I have a lot of experience solving compositions.
- Joined
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Originally posted by 64squaresofpainI think I got it:
Here's a puzzle I got from a book some of you may well be familiar with 'Journey to the Chess Kingdom':
White to move and mate in 3 moves (White moves up the board, black moves down)
[fen]8/8/1Q6/1pP5/k7/8/K7/8[/fen]
Try to solve in under 5 minutes 🙂 I'll be honest, took me longer
I hope my notation is correct.
EDIT: biggdog was first
Originally posted by 64squaresofpain
Yes well played both of you, I don't do nearly as much of these as I should, some are really quite tough!
Ok try this one?
Same thing, White to mate in 3
[fen]7k/6pP/6p1/4K1QP/8/8/8/8[/fen]
I best try more of these myself, put only the tougher ones on here maybe
Nice theme.
Originally posted by BigDoggProblemThis is tough, closest I've been is thisMR Vukcevich, StrateGems 1998
[fen]5nbq/6p1/4p3/8/6N1/3QP3/PPKP1PPR/RB4k1[/fen]Mate in 3
I'll revisit this at some point, I wonder if I'm close or in fact miles away >.<
Originally posted by 64squaresofpainIt's obviously very contrived Zak.
This is tough, closest I've been is this [hidden]1.a3 (threatens discovered mate) Qxh2 2. Qe4 (stopping Kxg2) Qxg2 3. Ba2+ ... but sadly there's now Qf1[/hidden]
I'll revisit this at some point, I wonder if I'm close or in fact miles away >.<
How did the black king get to that square!!!?