Daily Puzzle Analysis 5/25/2025

Here is my analysis and thought process for today's very hard daily puzzle!

Key Tactics: Clearance, Mating Net, Interference

At the start of the puzzle:

- Black is down an exchange (a rook for a knight).

- Black's e4-knight is pinned and can be captured on the next turn.

- Black's c5-bishop controls the critical g1-square.

- White's d3-bishop is loose.

- Black's queen can access the h-file in two moves.

There are two immediate candidate moves in the position: 1. ... Nf2+ and 1. ... Ng3+. Any other move would drop the knight on e4.

So, 1. ... Nf2+ first. It seems reasonable, winning the d3-bishop with a discovered check, but it fails to White's a2-rook:

So, the other option is 1. ... Ng3+ to rip open the h-file. From here, I think I see a way to open the h-file:

However, as you can see, I was wrong. I couldn't find anything better, so I played it and failed the puzzle. After running analysis, I see why this fails:

So, what is the solution of the puzzle? The solution of the puzzle is to approach the h-file from the other direction with the very counterintuitive queen move of 2. ... Qg6, leaving the queen in the path of the d3-bishop! Also, this time, the Bf5 defense does not work because we can block off the bishop with 3. ... g4!

Amazing puzzle by @JohanVA today!

I hope this helps, and have a nice Sunday!