Daily Puzzle Analysis 6/7/2025

Here is my analysis for today's daily puzzle!

Key Tactics: Mating Net, Deflection

At the start of the puzzle:

- White is down a pawn.

- White's d2-rook is hanging.

- Black has a powerful b-pawn on b3 two squares away from promoting, and it is supported by Black's b8-rook and queen.

- White's f6-pawn controls the critical g7-square.

- Black's queen can capture this f6-pawn.

- White's queen can access h6 to control critical dark squares around Black's king.

So, I should probably find a way to take advantages of the weak dark squares around Black's king, ideally Qh6-Qg7.

In the starting position, because Black's queen has eyes on the f6-pawn, 1. Qh6 won't work:

If I can deflect Black's queen from controlling the f6-pawn, Qh6 would work. But how should I do that?

1. Rd3 fails to 1. ... Bxd3, and 1. Rc2 fails to 1. ... bxc2, so those moves won't work. Additionally, these moves would also give Black's queen an escape square somewhere on the a1-h8 diagonal where it still controls the f6-pawn.

However, there is a much stronger move: 1. Rc1. This not only deflects Black's queen away from the a1-h8 diagonal, but also leaves it with no more safe squares on the a1-h8 diagonal.

I see no way to foil this plan, so I play it and get 1. Rc1 correct. However, Black surprises me with the defense 1. ... h6, counterattacking our queen and trying to counter-deflect it away from the defense of the f6-pawn. Time to reevaluate the position.

I shouldn't capture the bait pawn, losing defense of the f6-pawn. So, what should I do? That's it - 2. Qh4, keeping defense of f6, moving out of danger, and keeping an eye on h6.

The puzzle continued with 2. ... Qxc1, and I played 3. Qxh6, and checkmate is unstoppable. 3. ... Qxd2 4. Qg7#, and I solved the puzzle!

Excellent puzzle, @geelse_zot!

I hope this helps, and have a nice Saturday!