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2023/08/03 DPA: "Thinking Inside The Box"

2023/08/03 DPA: "Thinking Inside The Box"

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EnPassantFork
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Observations:

  • White's King is boxed in
  • Black may not have time for a setup move since his own King is exposed
  • Black's Knight is hanging

Based on this, I think the puzzle will be about checkmate.

I spent most of my time trying to find a checkmate along the c file:

  • 1. ... Rc2+  2. Kxd4
  • 1. ... Nb5+  2. Kc4 Rc2+  3. Bc3 and Black can't progress.  I looked at sacing the Rook with ... Rxc3 or the Knight with ... Na3+ but to no avail
  • 1. ... b5 to cut off the c4 escape can be met with 2. cxb6 e.p. [en passant] or 2. Kxd4
  • 1. ... e5 to protect the Knight and set up 2. ... Rc2# is too slow.  At the very least, White can block Rc2 with 3. Bd1

It was this last idea that got me thinking that if the Bishop did play to d1, I could shift my rook to attacking on the 4th rank rather than the c file.  That's when I saw the solution:  1. ... Nb5+  2. Kc4 Rf4+  3. d4 Rxd4#.

The key is that, once White is forced to c4, the Rook is no longer needed on the 2nd rank and can shift to the 4th.

Box #1:

Box #2:

Alternate title:  "Thinking Inside The Box"