Daily Puzzle Analysis for Thursday 4.9.26

It’s Time for a Thursday puzzle! 

Legend: (Color Version)

• Observations in Yellow

• Strategies in Purple

• Responses (Unforced, Anticipated or Actual) in Orange

• Fails (Potential or Actual) in Red

• Successes (Potential or Actual) in Green

On setting up the board, we observe:

* We are equal on Rooks.

* We are up a Bishop, the dark.

* We are down a kNight.

* We both have Queens.

* We are down a Pawn.

* We have no immediate checking opportunies.

* We have an immediate capture opportunity with Qxf5, but it’s a Queen sac.

* We have an interrupted Queen Rook battery on the f file, blocked by our own kNight.

* Black has a Queen Rook battery on the d file, blocked by their own pawn.

* We have a Queen Bishop battery on the long light diagonal.

* With 3 escape squares, and substantial defenders, there does not appear to be a King Trap.

* It is our turn to move.

* The puzzle’s title is “I’ll Sit This One Out”

* It is Thursday.

The above observations inform potential strategies:

With no checking options, and our only capture of substance losing our Queen, we must first look to threats and tactics. 

Opening with Bgh3 attacks Black’s light squared Bishop and x-ray targets Black’s Queen. This almost certainly will be met with Bxh3. We then have the choice, to either recapture, or to capture Black’s kNight.
-----If we Qxf6, we retain our threat on Black’s Bishop, and we’ve positioned our Queen such that she can Qxh6 on her next play, clearing out Black’s King’s defenses. Black would likely respond with Bxf1, winning our Rook. We can now either recapture or continue our attack.
----------If we Qxh6, we have now placed double coverage on h3 with our Queen and kNight, and therefore prevented their Bishop from escaping in that direction. If they want to keep their attacking Bishop, and indeed keep scoring our minor pieces, I would next expect Bxe2, winning a pawn and threatening our remaining Rook, from a position of safety. Again, we can now either defend, moving our Rook, or press our attack.
---------------If we Qxg5+, we force either Kh8 or Kh7.
--------------------If Kh7, we can Qh4+, forcing either Kg8, Kg7, or Kg6.
-------------------------If Kg8 we can Bh6, preparing to close our mating net. The only thing Black could do here to stop us would be f6 or f5. This would open an escape square for Black’s King with Kf7. F6 seems more likely, as it prevents our Queen from checking on h5, and Black’s Bishop prevents us checking on g4. So it seems this is where this attack line ends, with a no go. 

Ok, what if we play it differently, and immediately recapture the Bishop?

Opening with Bgh3 almost certainly prompts Bxh3.
-----If we Nxh3, this almost certainly prompts Qxh3, so that Black can maintain their newly won material advantage.
----------We can now Qxf6, and we’ve evened out the material count again. We cannot now however Qxh6, clearing out Black’s King’s defenses next, as Black’s Queen defends that square. From here I would expect Black to attack our Queen, as their Queen has no support downfield, or withdraw their Queen. The former seems more likely. Since Rd6 fails to Qxd6, I would expect Nd7.
---------------We are now in a pickle, Qxd8 fails to Rxd8, Qe6 fails to fxe6, Qg7+ and Qh8+ fail to Kx each respectively, Qxh6 fails to Qxh6, Qg6 fails to fxg6, Qe5 fails to Nxe5, Qf5 fails to Qxf5, and Qf4 fails to gxf4. Our only safe squares are e7 and d6. If Qe7, Black can Rfe8, forcing Qd6. Black can then Rexe2, preparing for Qg2#, and forcing us to Rff2 to block. Black can then Rexf2, forcing Kxf2, and then Qxh2+, skewering our King against our Bishop, and completely annihilating our defenses. This too seems to be a no go.

Hmmm. Ok. Well what I’d really like to be able to do here is to punch through and capture Black’s kNight, and then clean out the pawn defenses to bring in my Bishop. How can this be achieved? If opening with our Bishop isn’t going to open the way, what about opening with our kNight? This would restore our Queen Rook battery on the f file, strengthening our position. 

Opening with Ng4 won’t do it, as Black could Nxg4 instead of using their Bishop. But Opening with Nh3 might do the trick. The problem there is that if Bxh3 and we Bxh3 Black can Qxh3 and we’re down a minor piece. So we don’t, if Bxh3 we Qxf6, and then if Bxg2 we can Kxg2 and maintain material balance. Ok, this should leave us with our Queen Rook battery on the f file, and in a position to target h6 with our Queen, but it’s now Black’s turn to move. Let’s review:

Opening with Nh3 prompting Bxh3.
-----Qxf6, Bxg2
----------Kxg2 ????

Well, Qd6 could foil that plan. Protected by their Rook, their Queen now defends the 6^th row, including the weak h6 square. And we cannot Qxf7+ as this fails to Rfxf7, and if we then Rfxf7 that fails to Kxf7. We could still check with Rdf1+, but that’s about as far as that goes. This too is a no go.

Wow, this puzzle has me stumped today. I’m just not seeing a way in. Time to take a break and do some sheet rock surgery in my master bedroom, I’ll revisit this in a bit.

Ok, back with fresh eyes, and seeing other potential openings, although none of them look very promising at the moment.

There is a lot to look at in this puzzle. The f file is absolutely crowded. That kNight is preventing our Queen from slipping in via h5. That Bishop is preventing us from taking out that kNight. That Queen is preventing us from taking out that Bishop. Both of our Rooks are blocked from action. Both of our Bishops are ineffective. 

Ok, what if we grab that Bishop off the bat?

Opening with Qxf5 almost certainly prompts Qxf5, losing our Queen.
-----We can follow with Bh3, protected by our kNight, and Black’s Queen must flee. She cannot flee along our attack vector or we’ll capture, so c8, d7, e6, and g4 are out. Qe5 fails to dxe5, Qf4 fails to gxf4, Qe4 fails to Nxe4, Qd3 fails to exd3, and Qb1 fails to Rdxb1. So that leaves Qc2, Qg6, and Qh7 as flight options.
----------If Qc2, we can Rdc1, but then Black can Qxd2 and we lose our Bishop. And she’s free after that. Ok no need to explore the other escape squares, this is a no go.

What if we try something completely different? We could pin Black’s kNight to their d Rook…

Opening with Bda5 does this, but how would Black respond? Moving their b kNight loses their Rook. Moving their f kNight forward loses that kNight, either to our kNight on e4 or g4, or to our Queen on h5. Attacking with their Bishop on g4 or e4 allows for Qxf6, and sees their Bishop threatened by our kNight. They could then Bxg1, but we Kxg1 and are still up material. Moving their Queen, at the moment, is not effective as she’s blocked in all directions by her own pieces. And both Rooks are blocked in too. Interesting! 

Hmmm, but opening with Bdb4 does something similar. Here we threaten Black’s f Rook, prompting either Rfe8 or c5. If c5 we restore the threat with Bxc5. If Rfe8, what then? 

I suppose we could also open with g4, threatening Black’s Bishop. Bxg4 is the likely response.
-----Nxg4 prompts Nxg4, and Qxg4 leads to Qxg4, so that’s a no go.
-----We could alternately follow with Qxg4, leaving Black’s Bishop under threat from our kNight, but protected by their Queen. I would expect a Rook fork to follow with Bxe2.
----------We could next Rde1, making the choice for them, and allowing Bxf1.
---------------With their Bishop now off the diagonal, we can Bh3, clearing Black’s Queen from the diagonal as well. Her choices now are limited to Qc7, as anywhere else she goes, we capture.
--------------------We can now safely Ng4, preparing for Nh6+. And I’m not seeing anything Black can do to stop that now.

Hmmm. Interesting. Convoluted. Tons of calculation, and even still we’re a couple steps from mate…

I’ve got to be missing something here. Something simpler…

Wait a minute! I am missing something simple. Earlier I explored options for opening with our kNight, in order to both restore our Queen Rook battery and in an effort to draw Black’s Bishop off the f file so that I could Qxf6 with impunity. Everywhere I tried failed, because I was placing my kNight into a square where he could be captured. What about the square where he cannot be captured?

Opening with Nh1 does just that. I would still expect an attack from Black’s Bishop in response on my Queen. It could come from either side as g4 is covered by Black’s Queen and e4 is covered by Black’s d pawn.
-----In either scenario, we can Qxf6 cleanly, achieving material advantage. If Black chose to Be4, they could follow with Bxg2, but we could Kxg2, maintaining our material advantage. If Black chose to g4, they could follow with Bxe2, forking our Rooks.
----------We can then Bxg5, and Black has to bring out the big guns. I would expect Qd6, disputing our Queen’s foothold on the 6^th row.
---------------Here, understanding that we are still technically up a minor piece, even though our Rooks are forked, we Qxd6, to which Black would recapture with Rxd6.
--------------------And now WE Be7, forking THEIR Rooks! This ensures our piece advantage! In fact, it’s a better fork, as when they capture (either of our Rooks), we capture their d Rook, and Black must then choose whether to rescue their Bishop or their other Rook, as they can’t save both! That’s pretty amazing!

Ok, it’s a plan – but how could it fail?

Honestly, it might fail. But I’m out of solving time for the day, so let’s try it.

Ok, but is there a BETTER PLAN?

No idea, let’s find out

Betting on my plan, I set the board aside and engage with the puzzle online.  There's your hope chess @JimBalter.  It's not without calculation though.

Nh1 is correct! I’m kind of shocked, I half thought I had this wrong today.

A part of me really thought opening with g4 was the right move, as convoluted as it seemed. I must have missed something when calculating that line that made it a no go.

Anyway, Black chooses to attack as predicted with Be4. Well that’s kind of disappointing. I was hoping it would go the long way. No matter.

Qxf6 is correct, and the PUZZLE IS SOLVED!

A thoughtful Thursday puzzle from a mystery puzzler.

Have a great day everyone.