White to move should be mate in 3...

White to move & continued with...20.Ng4?
but; is there another way to finish this in 3 moves?

Game 9589746

no

yes it is mate in 3. Otherwise I will not post it.

Not three moves, but a nice win none the less..

Qg5 ..Bxf6 (what else? White is threatening Rxh6. Technically black can play Qd2+ to delay the mate..)
Qxf6 ..Kg8
Qg6+ ..Kh8
Rxh6#

if Bxf6; then Rxh6 simply mate.

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
Not three moves, but a nice win none the less..

Qg5 ..Bxf6 (what else? White is threatening Rxh6. Technically black can play Qd2+ to delay the mate..)
Qxf6 ..Kg8
Qg6+ ..Kh8
Rxh6#

Everybody's going too fast.

First of all, this doesn't work because the f6 knight is undefended:



Next, 1.Qg5 Bxf6 2.Rxh6 mate is best.

1.Qg5 (as pointed out) has a nice idea Rxh6 and Qxh6.

The problem is that 1.Qg5 gives black a free move (Qd2+), so the mate is not in 3 (as also pointed out).

JC and I have pm'd a truce, so all I can say is good find. You need to be a little more patient when analyzing though. First, you and Praxis have words, and then a loss of his is your thread topic. ... Honoring the truce, I say no comment!

Paul, If you happened to be handling the black side,
after white's 20.Qg5! Surely, you would resign,
for there is no more defense against the coming 21.Rxh6.. 🙂
white actually move 19.Ng4, and went on to an interesting fight.
good game though...
by the way, this is not my game, if you click the link...

Originally posted by jcmessy
Paul, If you happened to be handling the black side,
after white's 20.Qg5! Surely, you would resign,
for there is no more defense against the coming 21.Rxh6.. 🙂
by the way, this is not my game, if you click the link...

It depends on who I was playing and the time controls. If I see a 1300 or so with a mate in 3 (or more), I might make them play it out. I bet only half of them would find it. If I was playing a blitz game, I'd look at the clocks first. Now, if I was playing this opponent in this time control, I would resign.

And yes, I know its not your game. (Looking at the link is how I knew it was a Praxis game!)

What I am trying to show or demonstrate to everyone, was that 20.Ng4 was pure instinct.
while 20.Qg5 was truly a skill...

Originally posted by jcmessy
What I am trying to show or demonstrate to everyone, was that 20.Ng4 was pure instinct.
while 20.Qg5 was truly a skill...

To me, 20.Ng4 is settling for less. Black's kingside is weak and it will remain weak for a long time, so why is white throwing away a piece just to rush into a line that's inconclusive? What's the big hurry?

Originally posted by jcmessy
if Bxf6; then Rxh6 simply mate.

Yes i realised that when i woke up actually, found myself thinking about the position with my cereal. 🙂

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
Yes i realised that when i woke up actually, found myself thinking about the position with my cereal. 🙂

I did that in reverse this week. 🙂 I woke up and started dreaming up moves in the Swiss proof game. Unfortunately, I was still a little sleep and didn't realize I couldn't play Qf8 (with the king in the way).