So proud!

I don't think I can do this.

Here's me checking all checks:

Originally posted by WanderingKing
I don't think I can do this.

Here's me checking all checks:

[pgn]
[FEN "3r4/2q3k1/rp3bpp/2pBp3/2P1Q3/P4RP1/P2R1P1P/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
1.Qxg6+ Kxg6 2.Bf7+ Kxf7 3.Rxf6+ Kxf6 4.Rd6+ Qxd6

[/pgn]

You should check all checks, but not necessarily play them. 😉

You've looked at all checks in the initial position, but you should also do it in every step of your analysis. That is the key to coming out on top after such forced sequences.

Oh, OK, there's 3.Qb7+ forking the king and the hanging rook. Right... After Tomtom's comment for some reason I thought I needed to start over.

But I don't understand how this is "working on the loose pieces". I saw the first move not because I saw how it threatened to take the rook, but because I saw how it threatened to checkmate the king. Isn't the taking of the rook just a by-product of the attack on the king? If I'd been focusing on the rook, I'd never have found 1.Bf7.

Originally posted by RJHinds
You might have tried for a draw with 59...Kg5 and then tried to trade the pawns off to reach a B + K vs K ending. He might have made a mistake and allowed you to do it.

I am way out of my league here, but would like to ask - why do you think a draw is a better idea than the way he played it out? Why is a draw ever a better idea than a win? Thanks, appreciate it.

Originally posted by WanderingKing
Oh, OK, there's 3.Qb7+ forking the king and the hanging rook. Right... After Tomtom's comment for some reason I thought I needed to start over.

But I don't understand how this is "working on the loose pieces". I saw the first move not because I saw how it threatened to take the rook, but because I saw how it threatened to checkmate the king. Isn't t ...[text shortened]... of the attack on the king? If I'd been focusing on the rook, I'd never have found 1.Bf7.

The point is that the whole Bf7 idea doesn't work if the rook isn't loose... This is why you have to be aware of loose pieces in the position... Just remember if you want to win any game it takes at least two weaknesses in your opponents camp. In this case the weaknesses were the exposed king, the overworked queen(defending the fork square and the other rook) and the loose rook. This is the kind of position that is winning, if you can create a loose rook and overworked queen like that in your games it is worth some investment, maybe a pawn or a tempo or two and if you can see a forced win after creating such a position then it can be worth much more.

I think GP is just trying to get you to be on the hunt for these things, good players see tactics in advance because they are trying to create the positions where they happen... This doesn't mean a loads of calculation all the time but once you learn to recognise positions with tactics and start to create them then comes the calculating.

Take the classic h7 bishop sacrifice, I score with it all the time in blitz because I recognise the position and know how to create it and I know what happens so that I don't even have to calculate and if I do its a breeze because I've seen the idea so much. Often times I even get the opponent blundering because they also recognise it and proceed to overreact.

Hi Wanderer.

You got them all (eventually) Well done.

But I don't understand how this is "working on the loose pieces"


You had the advantage of being told there is combo on here.

In your games this won't happen, you have to spot the chances when they pop up.
The loose Rook on a6 is the lynch pin to the whole combo.
Without it nothing works.

The fact it is unprotected and vulnerable to a Qb7+ is what I used as a signpost
when I first this saw puzzle. It led me to find Bf7.
Of course I was told there is 'something on' but not what.
You were also given three clues. I had one.

I cannot explain how everyone thinks.
Some may see the weakness on g6 and see if Bf7 works and then stumble
upon Qb7+. But I got it spotting the loose bit and see how I can get Qb7+ in.
The Rook on a6 was my beacon. I worked on the loose piece.

The hard bit is seeing these things in our actual games.

Solutions.
First the mate. In theory the easiest to work out because there is no
'afters', no 'sting in the tail'. You need not judge the final position. the game is ovre.



Now the win of the exchange. (plus what happens next)



Now the looose Rook

Originally posted by RJHinds
Okay, I admit, I overlooked that move because I did not spend much time looking at it from Black's point of view.

You get your grade without looking at the board from both perspectives?

🙄

Originally posted by wolfgang59
You get your grade without looking at the board from both perspectives?

🙄

What grade are you referring to?