[Puzzle Road] Attack, Block and Take (P1)

Welcome to Puzzle Road!

You surely ask yourself what it is: Puzzle Road has been created to share and explain 42 puzzles while 6 weeks, every day. These puzzles are published in 50 different clubs with the link of the blog where the explanations are. The idea behind it is to help players of every level to discover remarkably interesting puzzles that can help them while their training. You are one of them? Let us continue to read this!

There will be an explanation for every move, and I will show you the most curious and important variants of the puzzle! I will add to each puzzle a title and a category, which does show you where you are strong or weak. If you observe that you solve easily puzzles from the same type, you know that you do not need any more to focus on this topic. The 42 explained puzzles will be summed up at the end of the road, at the end of the 6 weeks of the (hard) tactic training!

Here does come the first puzzle! We will start with something relatively easy, but still interesting to analyze.

1. Attack, Block and Take! (Topic: interference)

First move: Bishop f3(!!)

The sacrifice can seem strange but is useful for the position for Black. Indeed, Black has a clear objective: to win the white Rook on e5. We already attack one time the rook, but White does protect it with their queen. By playing g6, White has only one possibility to rescue their queen AND to protect their rook: it’s the move Queen e2. Black cannot take the control of e2 but can put a piece to block the access for the white queen to this important case. By playing Bishop f3, the white queen cannot take, because the rook would not be defended anymore and by taking with the pawn, this same pawn does block the d1-h6 diagonal. If White doesn’t take the Bishop, they lose their rook (or their queen!), that’s why the move Bishop f3 is a that much good move!

Second move: g6!

Now, we can play g6, because, as explained before, the the white queen cannot go anymore on e2 to escape to the attack and protect the rook at the same time. Moreover, White cannot attack with their queen one of our pieces!

Finally, you will have exchanged your bishop for a rook AND the pawn structure of White is now worse than ever because they have a doubled isolated pawn!

In conclusion, we attack the rook, block the case e2 to the white queen and win the rook!

I hope you liked this first puzzle of the Puzzle-Road and you will check the next one tomorrow!

For more chess tips, you can check my first blog about how to become stronger that is itself the first of my own road to top blogger! I will try to publish at now 3 to 5 new articles each week and encourage you to give me your feedbacks or to write your ideas in the comments.

Have fun in playing chess!

@Kyu13

Don't forget to send me a friend request or to follow my blog if you want to get a notification when the next article will be published!
1. The main question: how to become a stronger player?