Daily Puzzle Analysis for Wednesday 4.15.26

It’s Time for a Wednesday 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.

* There are no Bishops.

* We are down both kNights.

* We both have Queens.

* We are equal on Pawns.

* We have an immediate checking opportunity, with Qg7+, but it’s a Queen sac.

* We have an immediate checking opportunity, with Qh7+, skewering Black’s King against their Queen.

* We have an immediate checking opportunity, with Qh5+.
* We have an immediate checking opportunity, with Rg7+, but it’s a Rook sac.

* We have an immediate checking opportunity, with dxe6+, winning one of Black’s kNights.

* Our Queen is under threat of capture.

* Black has a pawn downfield on the a file.

* Black’s kNights are connected.

* With 2 escape squares, combined with Black being surrounded by their own pieces, there seems to be a King Trap.

* It is our turn to move.

* The puzzle’s title is “Checkmate and Taxes”

* It is Wednesday.

The above observations inform potential strategies:

What a fascinating position. We are down on material, but we have tons of options and almost all of them are forcing moves. This looks to be a checkmate solution, and I’m betting we’ll need to execute things in just the right order to get the job done.

Opening with dxe6+ seems the most promising from the outset, as it wins a kNight and narrows the material deficit to a single minor piece. But this gives Black 4 response options. Let’s examine each in turn to see how they might play out.
-----If Kxe6, we can follow with Qh3+. This gives Black 2 response options, Rf5, or Nf5.
----------If Rf5, we can exf5+, winning Black’s Rook. This forces either Nxf5, Kd5, Kd7, Kf7, or Kf6.
---------------If Nxf5, we can follow with Rg6+, as Qh6+ fails to Nxh6. This forces Kd7, Kf7, or Kd5.
-------------------If Kd7, we can Qxf5+, winning a kNight and material equivalence, and forcing Kd8, Kc7, Ke8, or Kc6.
------------------------If Kd8, we can Rg8+, forcing either Qe8, Qf8, or Kc7.
------------------------------If Qe8 we can Rxe8+, winning Black’s Queen, and material advantage. This will be met with Kxe8 and we emerge with a Queen and a pawn against 3 pawns in a relatively easy endgame.
------------------------------If Qf8, we can Rxf8+, winning Black’s Queen for free, and emerging with a Queen and a Rook in a simple endgame.
------------------------------If Kc7, we can Qc2+, forcing Kb7 or Kb6.
-----------------------------------If Kb7, we can Qc8+, forcing Ka7 or Kb6.
----------------------------------------If Ka7, we can Qa8+, forcing Kb6.
---------------------------------------------We can now Rb8+, forcing Kc7 or Kc5.
--------------------------------------------------If Kc7, we can Qb7#.
--------------------------------------------------If Kc5, we can Rc8+, forcing Kb6, Kb5, or Kb4.
-------------------------------------------------------If Kb6, we can Qc6+, forcing Ka7, or Ka5.
------------------------------------------------------------If Ka7, we Ra8#.
------------------------------------------------------------If Ka5, we Ra8#.

Alright, so theoretically, after one heck of a King hunt, at least one branch of that line can work. But as we can see there are myriad branches to examine in this line – there are just so many options at almost every turn, that it would take a very long time to examine each one. Acknowledging this, I’ll move on to examine other openings to see if we have something more forcing, and will circle back to the above variations if needed.

Opening with Qg7+ fails to Nxg7, losing our Queen and leaving us with a Rook against a Queen a Rook and 2 kNights. That’s a no go.

Opening with Rg7+ fails to Nxg7, losing our Rook and leaving us with a Queen against a Queen a Rook and 2 kNights. That’s a no go.

Opening with Qh7+ forces either Ke8, Kf8 or Ng7.
-----If Ke8, we can Rg8+, forcing Kd7.
----------We can now dxe6+, forcing either Kxe6, Rxe6, Kc7 or Kc6.
---------------If Kxe6, we can Qh3+, forcing either Rf5, or Nf5.
--------------------If Rf5, we can Rg6+, having Black’s Rook now pinned, this forces either Qf6 to block or Kd7.
-------------------------If Qf6, we an exf6+, forcing either Kf7, Ke7, Kd7, or Nxf5.
------------------------------If Kf7, we can Qh7+, forcing Kf8 or Ke8.
-----------------------------------In either scenario, we can now Rxf6, winning Black’s Queen and a decisive material advantage, leaving Black with a kNight to face our Queen and Rook, the endgame is easily ours.
------------------------------If Ke7, we can Qh7+ forcing Kf8, Ke8, or Kd8.
-----------------------------------In any of these scenarios, we can now Rxf6, winning Black’s Queen and a decisive material advantage, leaving Black with a kNight to face our Queen and Rook, the endgame is easily ours.
-----------------------------If Kd7, we can Qh7+ forcing Ke8, Kd8, Kc8, or Kc6.
-----------------------------------In any of these scenarios, we can now Rxf6, winning Black’s Queen and a decisive material advantage, leaving Black with a kNight to face our Queen and Rook, the endgame is easily ours.

-----------------------------If Nxf5, we can Rxf6, winning Black’s Queen, and a decisive material advantage, leaving Black with a kNight to face our Queen in the endgame.

---------------If Rxe6, we’ve run our of checking attacks, but we can Rg7, pinning Black’s Queen to their King. At this point, we lose tempo, but there isn’t much Black can do in response.
--------------------They could Rh6+, but we can simply Qxh6, retaining coverage on our attacking Rook. -------------------------They could then Nf5, threatening our Queen, but this is easily dodged with Qh7, retaining our pin.
------------------------------They could then continue with Ng3+, however our King can close with Kg2, and they are out of attacking options.
-----------------------------------At this point I would expect Qxg7, capturing our Rook, to which we Qxg7, winning their Queen. We emerge with a Queen against a kNight in the endgame.

---------------If Kc7, we can Qxe7, winning Black’s Queen and forking Black’s King against their Rook, wining a decisive material advantage.

---------------If Kc6, we can Qxe7, winning Black’s Queen and threatening Black’s Rook. We now have a material advantage, but we’ve lost tempo. Black could Rh6+, however if we Kg2, we can advance on it, and prevent Black’s kNight from joining the attack simultaneously. Black is not left with no checking options. We should be able to press to checkmate upon reclamation of tempo. 

Ok – again, this line could lead to decisive material advantage, but I’ve not explored many branches, it’s a Wednesday, and I feel there just must be something simpler. Let’s put this aside for now and revisit it if needed.

Opening with Qh5+ forces Kf8. There we go, a single response option, and one we can deal with.
-----We can next Qh8+, forcing Kf7.
----------Now we can finish with Qg8#. Perfect!

I’m pleased not only to have found the solution, but to explore the other lines and see what works, what doesn’t and what is and is not worth exploring in each before deciding to look elsewhere. A fantastic puzzle. A ton to look at and think upon.

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

Today we open with a forcing move, allowing for only one response option, and then we execute a 2nd forcing move, allowing only one response option. Then we deliver checkmate. This plan cannot fail.

Ok, but is there a BETTER PLAN?

Well there is no better plan than checkmate, and this plan ensures it.

Confident in my plan, I set the board aside and engage with the puzzle online.

Qh5+ is correct, and Black is forced to Kf8.

Qh8+ is correct, and Black is forced to Kf7.

Qg8# is correct, and the PUZZLE IS SOLVED!

A wonderful Wednesday puzzle from a mystery puzzler.

Have a great day everyone.