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2023/11/24 DPA: "Out Of The Frying Pan, Into Another Frying Pan"

2023/11/24 DPA: "Out Of The Frying Pan, Into Another Frying Pan"

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EnPassantFork
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Several things are "hanging":

  • White has Ne7+, forking the Rook
  • White potentially can pin the Queen once the Black Rook has been removed
  • Black has Bxf4, pinning White's Queen
  • White can play 1. a3, a move so powerful it should cause Black to resign immediately...nah, just seeing if you were paying attention

The Knight check cannot be ignored but if White then takes the Rook, Black can intermezzo Bxf4.  Wait, no he can't because the Knight on g6 guards f4.  So Black will have to capture the Knight first.  If he captures with the Queen, he loses on 2 fronts:  ... Bxf4 is no longer possible because the Queen no longer supports f4 AND Rxg2 is now possible for White.

But if Black recaptures with the pawn, at least the Queen can't be pinned and the chance for Bxf4 still exists.

1. Ne7+ Kh7 [probably not f8 because then NxR comes with check; nor g7 or h8 because those are dark squares that the White Queen could potentially attack]  2. Nxg6 fxg6.

White does begin the puzzle up a piece so a Queen trade would be advantageous.

Both of White's Knights are hanging.

3. Rxg2 is the most obvious move, threatening the Queen.  Note that White is now up a full Rook.

  • If 3. ... Qxf4  4. Qxf4 Bxf4+  5. Kc2
  • If 3. ... Bxf4  4. Rxg4 Bxd2+  5. Kxd2

What can Black do better?  Can he use the h pawn?  1. Ne7+ Kh7  2. Nxg6 h3.  Now White has a problem, as he cannot capture the g pawn and Black threatens ... h2.

2. ... h3 is an intermezzo ["in-between" move].  Does White have anything similar to counter?

Maybe 1. Ne7 is not the solution [aside from the fact that it looks too obvious].  What about capturing the h pawn with one of the Knights?  But that allows 1. ... Bxf4.  White can temporarily ignore that but only if he can come with something that wins the Black Queen.

1. N3xh4 [by using the f3 Knight, it leaves open the possibility of Ne7] Bxf4  2. Rxg2 is too slow, as 2. ... Bxd2 comes with check.  But now the White Queen can't move because it's pinned.

What about 1. Rxg2 immediately?  1. ... Qxg2  2. Ne7+ Kh7.

I'm not making any progress so I set up a physical board:  not so I can move pieces around but sometimes a change in perspective [in this case, from a 2D computer image to a 3D board and pieces] can unblock my thought process.

It worked, as I found 1. Nh6+:  it's a Royal Fork so Black must capture.  But 1. ... Rxh6 opens the way for 2. Rxg2 and the Queen is pinned. 

2. ... Qxf4 is illegal due to the pin and 2. ... Bxf4 hopes for White to blunder with 3. Qxf4 Qxg2  4. Qxh6 Qxf3 where White's winning chances have vanished.

Instead, White will play 3. Rxg4+, picking up the Bishop as well as the Queen.

So my original idea of the Ne7+ fork to get rid of the Rook was rooted in the correct concept but it was the wrong execution as it was too slow.  1. Nh6 is a hammer blow.

Note that 2. ... Bxf4 is not optimal.  Stockfish's top 3 lines are

Don't fixate on the fact that the opponent made a sub-optimal move:  the puzzle was designed to demonstrate the tactic that led to the Queen pin.  How that is accomplished is up to the puzzle creator.  If you found 1. Nh6+ and the follow-up 2. Rxg2, you solved the puzzle according to the puzzle creator's intent.  At that point, it's irrelevant what the opponent does.

Unlike a position analysis, where you want to find optimal play for both sides, a puzzle only demands optimal play from the solver's standpoint.

https://www.chess.com/blog/EnPassantFork/no-the-puzzle-is-not-wrong