BTW, do you play correspondence chess? Do you know this site: http://www.queenalice.com? I was wondering if there are some real masters there, among them you.
mhowe said… “Hey, if I can find this in under a minute, it must either be too easy or I’m missing something because I’m not at all a strong player.”
As anon_12:38 pointed out: “The kind of thing I’d probably never see in a game, but knowing that there’s something there makes me look harder.”
Well I hope now that both of you would see this in a game. I read a book (the name escapes me, but there are many like it) which had sacrifice for mate puzzles: a chapter on rook sacks on an opened h-file against a castled king; a chapter on queen sacs; etc. You knew what you were looking for and soon could find the whole line to the end for each puzzle.
So I was in a rated tournament game right after I’d read this book, and in the game I just naturally looked for these, when I had an open h-file against a castled king, and it was a hard to find one too, but it was a forced mate in about six, I sacked the rook and won.
Hopefully, the more of these puzzles we solve, the more we train ourselves to look for such opportunities quickly and assess the merit of them while we are deliberating our moves in real games.
I also solved this one in much less than a minute. First I noticed that the king is pinned in, and that every square but h8 is covered, and that the queen and bish double-cover f7 and g8. So I looked at possibly Qf7+ or Qf8+, but there was no follow up, no handy knights for a smothered mate, etc. Then I looked at the rook sack on h7, and immediately noticed that the queen can retreat to the h-file with Qh3+ whilst the bish keeps the king boxed in, and I said, “yeah, I got it,” and confirmed that the pawn on g5 would then support the queen for the mate that follows.
If I’d failed to find anything, then I would have shifted to see if I could save the minor pieces being attacked on the other side of the board, but I never got a chance to even look at them, as the mate had already jumped out at me, as it did with you. Nice going guys.
I also don’t know if I would have found this in actual play. I hope I would, and it would probably depend on how much time I had available. For me, the first thing I saw was the g5 pawn, and then when I saw that the queen had access to h3 it came together quickly. But yes, it’s different when you already know that something is there.
Don’t know about the rest of you guys, but as well as the artificial aid of knowing that something is there because it is a tactical problem, I also find it easier to see these combinations in 2D because that is the medium in which the vast majority of my studying is done.
Playing 3D with a set and board I find the combinations harder to spot.
1. Rxh7+ Kxh7 (forced)
2. Qh3+ Kg7 (also forced)
3. Qh6#
am i missing something?
Rxh7+, Kxh7
Qh3+, Kg7
Qh7#
Hey, if I can find this in under a minute, it must either be too easy or I’m missing something because I’m not at all a strong player.
The knight is hanging, so there has to be something fairly immediate, or else we’d go a piece down. How about:
1. R x h7 K x R (forced)
2. Qh3+ Kg7 (forced)
3. Qh6 ++
The kind of thing I’d probably never see in a game, but knowing that there’s something there makes me look harder.
Oops, typo. I definitely knew that the last move was Qh6#.
Dear Susan,
Nice problem, thanks.
BTW, do you play correspondence chess? Do you know this site: http://www.queenalice.com? I was wondering if there are some real masters there, among them you.
Best wishes,
Beco.
mhowe said…
“Hey, if I can find this in under a minute, it must either be too easy or I’m missing something because I’m not at all a strong player.”
As anon_12:38 pointed out:
“The kind of thing I’d probably never see in a game, but knowing that there’s something there makes me look harder.”
Well I hope now that both of you would see this in a game. I read a book (the name escapes me, but there are many like it) which had sacrifice for mate puzzles: a chapter on rook sacks on an opened h-file against a castled king; a chapter on queen sacs; etc. You knew what you were looking for and soon could find the whole line to the end for each puzzle.
So I was in a rated tournament game right after I’d read this book, and in the game I just naturally looked for these, when I had an open h-file against a castled king, and it was a hard to find one too, but it was a forced mate in about six, I sacked the rook and won.
Hopefully, the more of these puzzles we solve, the more we train ourselves to look for such opportunities quickly and assess the merit of them while we are deliberating our moves in real games.
I also solved this one in much less than a minute. First I noticed that the king is pinned in, and that every square but h8 is covered, and that the queen and bish double-cover f7 and g8. So I looked at possibly Qf7+ or Qf8+, but there was no follow up, no handy knights for a smothered mate, etc. Then I looked at the rook sack on h7, and immediately noticed that the queen can retreat to the h-file with Qh3+ whilst the bish keeps the king boxed in, and I said, “yeah, I got it,” and confirmed that the pawn on g5 would then support the queen for the mate that follows.
If I’d failed to find anything, then I would have shifted to see if I could save the minor pieces being attacked on the other side of the board, but I never got a chance to even look at them, as the mate had already jumped out at me, as it did with you. Nice going guys.
I also don’t know if I would have found this in actual play. I hope I would, and it would probably depend on how much time I had available. For me, the first thing I saw was the g5 pawn, and then when I saw that the queen had access to h3 it came together quickly. But yes, it’s different when you already know that something is there.
Don’t know about the rest of you guys, but as well as the artificial aid of knowing that something is there because it is a tactical problem, I also find it easier to see these combinations in 2D because that is the medium in which the vast majority of my studying is done.
Playing 3D with a set and board I find the combinations harder to spot.
Does anyone else find that?