David Pruess To Win In 5
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In the above puzzle white's knight is pinned, but white has a strong attack on the g-file.
Can you see the moves that end the game by resignation in five with a win
for white?
Bonus: Can you name the opponent in this game?
The first move breaks the pin. The 2nd and 3rd moves are fairly obvious.
I'm still trying to understand the last two moves.
Were you going to sacrifice a rook for the knight on g6, and why not the knight to
one of the other 3 squares instead of e8?
Well, I have to admit I just looked at the solution. But after seeing the moves, here's my explanation of moves 4 and 5.
4. Ne8+ and the interposition in the puzzle is forced or else 4. ... Kf8 5. Rg8+ Ke7 6. Qa3+ and Qd6 is coming then checkmate. Notice that on e8 the knight cuts off the a8 rook so that Kh8 Rg8# is mate, the alternative 4. Ne6+ doesn't accomplish this.
4. ... Ng6 5. e6
White threatens to take the rook, winning the exchange and keeping an initiative. So where can black move the rook safely? Leaving the 7th rank, eg 5. ... Rf2 allows 6. Rxg6+ hxg6 7. Qxg6+ Kf8 8. Qg8+ Ke7 9. Rf7+ Kd6 10. Rd7#. Staying on the seventh rank, 5. ... Re7 allows 6. Rxg6+ hxg6 7. Qxg6+ Kf8 8. Qg8#.
Since Rxg6+ seems to work pretty well after the rook moves, the real question about move 5 is why e6 instead of 5. Rxg6+. But if we try to make the attack work, 5. ... hxg6 6. Qxg6+ Kf8 we run out of gas after 7. Qg8+ Ke7 or 7. Qd6+ Re7
Well, the game is David Pruess vs. Curt Collyer National Open 2007 round 6.
loomis got it. white deflects the black rook, which is on an ideal defensive square. rooks are terrific defenders on the second rank and terrible on the first rank in general. so for example notice how rg6+ straight away doesnt work because the r on f7 provides great defense. but after e6 rxe8 ef+ kxf7 black now has a rook on e8 instead of f7, and rxg6 is crushing: hg qg6+ ke7 (Kf8 Qg7++) Re1+ picking up the rook on e8 and mating in a moment.
that's a principle you can hopefully extract from this analysis.