Level
4-Rook
Chess Diagram
[Event "Puzzle #14"][Date "2008.04.03"][Result "1-0"]1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 Bd7 9.O-O-O Qa5 10.Kb1 Rc8 11.g4 h6 12.h4 a6 13.Be2 Ne5 14.g5 hxg5 15.hxg5 Rxh1
Vancouver Canucks of the NHL had a highly entertaining team during 2002-2003-2004 seasons when they were playing an attacking style of hockey. Phoenix Suns and our Steve Nash are also well known in the NBA for their attacking style, rarely finishing a game without scoring 100 or more points. Brasil soccer team has been known for decades for their attacking talent; when I mention this, I can still hear the Brazilian drums in the background as Socrates, Junior and Co. entertained us all during the 1982 World Cup of soccer. Chess is no different and has been blessed with attacking wizards such as Paul Morhpy, Mikhail Tal, Alexey Shirov and Kasparov, stopping short of naming quite a few highly talented GMs of today. I hope you will have the pleasure of discovering the correct attacking combination in the following position (see diagram).
White to move and win (last move was 15... Rh8xh1)
The combination is 5-6 moves long and it is worth 5 points. Those who can guess what opening has been played get an extra point; also a second extra point is available if you can name the variation. Total available points for this puzzle is 7. The answers will be published next week together with puzzle #15.
Puzzle #13 solution:
Karl is one of the solvers who enjoyed not only discovering the solution (most of the times), but also see the beauty in it. Here is what he wrote together with both solutions for this puzzle:
Those questions and answers were quite brilliant.
It is extremely rewarding to receive such feedback! Working on these puzzles means more than just the raw solution, as I do my best to find interesting and challenging ones, plus provide informative background as often as I can. Troitsky did not disappoint: the solutions were indeed "quite brilliant" to paraphrase Karl. The fact all pieces were crowded on the white Queen side corner of the board made it easier to find them. Stopping the 2 Black pawns was the main top priority and all White pieces worked together in harmony to achieve that.
[Event "Puzzle #13"][Date "2008.03.27"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "8/8/8/8/1N6/3N4/1ppK4/kb6 w - - 0 1"]1.Nc1! Ba2 (1...bxc1=Q+ 2.Kxc1 Ba2 3.Nxc2#) 2.Nxc2+ Kb1 3.Ne2 Bb3 4.Nc3#
Correct solutions:
Mate in 3: Frank, Matthew, Jacob, Jeremy, John D, Karl, Joanne, Wilson, Mark, Katerina - 1.0 point
Mate in 4: Matthew, Jacob, Jeremy, John D, Karl, Mark, Katerina - 1.0 point
Standings:
26.0 Jacob and John D
20.0 Karl and Jeremy
15.5 Joanne, Katerina and Frank
14.5 Matthew
11.0 Bryant
6.5 David and Mark
4.5 Algerd
3.5 Jakab and Wilson
3.0 Karen and Trevor
1.5 Nicholas
1.0 Jonah and Hanson
0.5 Alejandro, Vera, Kenneth and West
White to move and win (last move was 15... Rh8xh1)
The combination is 5-6 moves long and it is worth 5 points. Those who can guess what opening has been played get an extra point; also a second extra point is available if you can name the variation. Total available points for this puzzle is 7. The answers will be published next week together with puzzle #15.
Puzzle #13 solution:
Karl is one of the solvers who enjoyed not only discovering the solution (most of the times), but also see the beauty in it. Here is what he wrote together with both solutions for this puzzle:
Those questions and answers were quite brilliant.
It is extremely rewarding to receive such feedback! Working on these puzzles means more than just the raw solution, as I do my best to find interesting and challenging ones, plus provide informative background as often as I can. Troitsky did not disappoint: the solutions were indeed "quite brilliant" to paraphrase Karl. The fact all pieces were crowded on the white Queen side corner of the board made it easier to find them. Stopping the 2 Black pawns was the main top priority and all White pieces worked together in harmony to achieve that.
[Event "Puzzle #13"][Date "2008.03.27"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "8/8/8/8/1N6/3N4/1ppK4/kb6 w - - 0 1"]1.Nc1! Ba2 (1...bxc1=Q+ 2.Kxc1 Ba2 3.Nxc2#) 2.Nxc2+ Kb1 3.Ne2 Bb3 4.Nc3#
Correct solutions:
Mate in 3: Frank, Matthew, Jacob, Jeremy, John D, Karl, Joanne, Wilson, Mark, Katerina - 1.0 point
Mate in 4: Matthew, Jacob, Jeremy, John D, Karl, Mark, Katerina - 1.0 point
Standings:
26.0 Jacob and John D
20.0 Karl and Jeremy
15.5 Joanne, Katerina and Frank
14.5 Matthew
11.0 Bryant
6.5 David and Mark
4.5 Algerd
3.5 Jakab and Wilson
3.0 Karen and Trevor
1.5 Nicholas
1.0 Jonah and Hanson
0.5 Alejandro, Vera, Kenneth and West
Zwischenzug