Daily Puzzle Analysis 6/11/2025

Here is my analysis for today's daily puzzle!

Key Tactics: Greek Gift Sacrifice, Mating Attack

At the start of the puzzle:

- White is down a knight and a pawn.

- White's queen and rook are currently forked.

- Black's forking knight on d2 is hanging.

- White somewhat has an attack on Black's king: a bishop pointing at h7, a strong queen, and a knight that can leap to g5.

- White's awkwardly placed d6-pawn guards the e7-square, which may be useful in the future.

So, there doesn't seem to be a good way to win material, so I should probably go for checkmate.

I could take the troublesome knight with 1. Kxd2, but because I am down a knight already, that would get me at most a draw, which is not what I want. (In fact, Black is actually completely winning here!)

So, I set my sights on Black's king. Immediately, a common theme appears: the Greek gift sacrifice with 1. Bxh7+ Kxh7 2. Ng5+ Kg8 3. Qh5. However, that doesn't completely work here:

So, how do I make it work?

I think I see it: 1. Bxh7+ Kxh7 2. Qh5+, forcing Black's king to g8 and not giving it a chance to move forward. And after 2. ... Kg8 3. Ng5, checkmate is unstoppable!

Black can decline the sacrifice with 1. ... Kh8, but then I calculated that after 2. Qh5, Black cannot escape our discovered check. (And if 2. ... g6, then 3. Qh6.)

Good puzzle by @NJV870!

I hope this helps, and have a nice Wednesday!