Daily Puzzle Analysis for Wednesday 5.6.26

It’s time for a Wednesday Puzzle!

Legend:

• 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 up a Rook.

* We are equal on Bishops, ours being light and theirs being dark.

* We are up a kNight.

* We are down a Queen.

* We are down a Pawn.

* Our Bishop is pinned to our kNight, or our Bishop is skewered against our kNight, depending on how you look at things, as both are of equal point value.

* Our Bishop is hanging and under threat of capture.

* Our Rook is hanging.

* We have an immediate checking opportunity with Bd5+, but it’s a Bishop sac.

* We have an immediate checking opportunity with Bd7+, but it’s a Bishop sac.

* Black’s King has no escape squares so there is a current King Trap. But can we deliver a clincher? It looks doubtful.

* It is our turn to move.

* The puzzle’s title is “Royal Dilemma”.

* It is Wednesday.

The above observations inform potential strategies:

We have 2 initial checking opportunities. Let’s examine them both in turn.

Opening with Bd7+ fails to either Kxd7, Qxd7, or Kd5.

-----If Kxd7, we can Nf6+, a Royal fork. And as a kNight check cannot be blocked, and as our kNight is on a square where it cannot be captured, Black must move their King.

----------No matter where they move their King, we can Nxe8, winning their Queen and a decisive material advantage.

-----If Qxd7 however, we’ve lost the Royal fork, but can continue to follow up check with Rh6+. Unfortunately we’ve abandoned coverage of d5, and so although Black’s Queen has closed off escape through d7, Black’s King can now escape with Kd5.

----------If Kd5, Black attacks our now hanging kNight, and we cannot successfully both defend it and check at the same time, due to Black’s c pawn’s coverage of d6. This is a no go. 

Opening with Bd5+ fails to Kxd5. We are now down a Bishop, and have allowed Black’s King to escape. Now we must either move our kNight or our Rook. Moving our Rook off of the 4th row allows for either Kxe4 or Qxe4, losing our kNight, so that’s a no go. But we can effectively move our kNight.

-----Nf6+ is now again a Royal fork. And as a kNight check cannot be blocked, and as our kNight is on a square where it cannot be captured, Black must move their King.

----------No matter where they move, we can Nxe8, winning their Queen, and a decisive material advantage.

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

Well today we open with a forcing move, but Black does not have to capture our Bishop. They could instead flee with Kd7, as we’ve abandoned coverage of that square in our attack.

-----If Kd7, we can still Nf6+, a Royal fork, winning Black’s Queen.

This plan cannot fail.

Ok, so is there a BETTER PLAN?

Although Black’s King is presently trapped, we have now way to deliver checkmate without releasing him from his cage. So the next best alternative is to win his Queen. In today’s position, there is no better plan.

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

Bd5 is correct, and Black chooses to Kxd5, as was a predicted possibility.

Nf6+, the Royal fork is correct, and Black chooses to Kc5.

Nxe8 is correct, and the PUZZLE IS SOLVED!!!

A wonderful Wednesday puzzle from @IlanVardi.

Have an awesome day everyone!