Black to move. No engines, please. :)

Here my solution! No engine help!As always without that "devil"!

1. ...d3 2.exd3 Nd4 3.Qd1 Nxd2 4. Qxd2 Nxf3

Mauerblume, the one error I see there is 4... Nxf3, I believe it should just be Nf3+.

Sorry I was wrong, here a new try

Actually, your first try and your second try are both right. I only considered the first solution--good job, you found a dual.

Haha, look at my edited diagram! I made a mistake and put the knight on e5 instead of e4. That was my personal (k)nightmare for today.

I thought I had blamed myself and looked feverishly for another solution

Oh I see! I was wondering why I missed that line. :)

In the second diagram, 6.Be3! is a better defense. I think 5...Nxd2 6.Qxd2 Qxa4 is therefore the easiest way to win.

Yes,you are right!

Bytheway, 2. Qd1 would not have helped:

This is a nice problem. 1. ... d3 2. ... Nd4 jumped at me immediately, just as the most tactically active idea. For some reason it took me several more minutes to catch the fork on f3.

I think there are a few reasons it takes time to find. Even though we're only on the third move of the tactic, several key pieces are on different squares. White's e-pawn no longer controls f3, and black's knight can now get there from d4. White's queen also gets decoyed.

Lastly, white has an unusually fianchettoed knight. The fact that we're used to seeing a bishop there may make Nf3 not pop out to us.

Loomis, it's from CT-ART 3, level 20, exercise #128. It's a tough little bugger despite its placement in one of the 'easier' difficulty levels.

Wow, that means I've done this problem about a half-dozen times before. And nailed it on most if not all of those. I did get it this time, but I didn't recognize it. I've recently considered going back to do the CT-Art excersizes to see if I'm better at them now than when I started them way back when.

What and where do I find the CT-Art excercises.Thanks for your help...Greg

Convekta sell CT-ART 3 for $25, a bargain for 1200 or so tactical positions ranging from 1600 to 2400 elo. I would recommend it for players at the stage where they don't hang pieces and easily spot basic tactics--otherwise I would recommend something simpler.

couldn't find it, i liked the solutions though

You really dealt down "pun"ishment hahahaha not really