♟️Chess

[tardy finch]

||You cannot commit to Ne3+ if you already played Nxh2||

[hard pagoda]

||I wasn’t clear: after Rh3 I move knight back to g4 and then after Rxh7 I play Ne3+||

[tardy finch]

Kb3. Game on.

[hard pagoda]

I can’t resist a free pawn, Nxg2

[tardy finch]

And you have reached the end, congratulations. Now there is little to oppose your pawns and your knight is more active than all of White's pieces combined.

[hard pagoda]

Thanks for sharing that one. I can never think that clearly in game. And it’s exactly that sort of thing I need to improve on. Share more!

[dusky hull]

nice little tactic I hit in a blitz. bit easier than asiano's above task. white to mate in 3.

answer: ||Qf6+ (knight is pinned), Ke8, Qxe6 (pawn is pinned), Kd8, Qxd7#||

[teal furnace]

hmmmm i'm stuck
||QF6 check||
||King e8 ||

omg i am so stupid

i was dismissing ||Qxe6|| bcs i didnt see that ||the pawn is pinned||

[tardy finch]

||🧷 📌 📍 ||

[teal furnace]

|| ||

[hard pagoda]

My turn. Really annoyed I missed this one. Black has blundered in the opening. What’s white’s move to capitalise?

(It’s much easier to find when you know that there’s a move on the board I suppose)

Same game and I missed this one too

||the answers are similar. In the first position Nxe5 looks like a knight sac but is in fact not. In the second Bxc5 also looks like a sac but isn’t.||

[dusky hull]

Yea this is a classic center 4 tactic

It’s one of those things you drill into yourself if you’re an e pawn player

Or perhaps in general, but it mainly arises in e pawn openings

[dusky hull]

I think missing this one is a bit more understandable than the first for your current level. It’s harderto see ||d6|| and why it is even a good move if black played ||dxc||

[tardy finch]

||I suppose you mean the move later as playing it immediately is literally a free knight. dxe5 ftw||

[hard pagoda]

Errr yes I meant that! Ooops

[dusky hull]

when you're rusty and dumb and you miss one tactic, just make sure you dont miss the next two https://lichess.org/QnrLH714/white#1

[teal furnace]

richyvee out here having players ragequit

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/139544583652?tab=analysis

[dusky hull]

Black to move and win a pawn (or more if white plays even slightly inaccurately)

answer: ||Bxd4. Yes, trade the bishop for knight. Why? The DSB looks really good, right? It’s all about white’s last move. The pawn push to g3, giving up control over f3. By eliminating one knight, that’s one less controller of f3. So white plays Bxd4, recapturing with his own dsb. And now for the killer move you have to spot before you play Bxd4: Qxd2! A queen sac to eliminate the other controller of f3. And now the threat becomes apparent. If white recaptures Qxd2, they fall victim to a 4-way fork Nf3+ which will win back the queen and be up a piece at the end of the line. Best for white is to play gxh4 instead, doubling h pawns, compromising the king, and then black finally wins a pawn with Qxc2 at the end of the line. This felt nice to spot in a blitz game.||

[hard pagoda]

Black’s a pawn down, with isolated doubled e pawns arguably making that worse.

If I was white in this position I would be sure I was winning. As black I was sure I was losing (and then I Botez gambitted to make it all academic)

Why does the engine think it’s basically equal? What weakness in the white position have I overlooked?

[dusky hull]

Piece quality and relative domination. Once you park your bishop on d4, you permanently block the main file that white could use to activate the rooks. After b6, you solidify a blockade on the c5 square making it basically impossible for white to push his c pawn. Your dsb prevents whites access into your territory, reduces the 3v2 issue, and is still somewhat of an attacking piece eyeing both f2 and g1.

White on the other hand has a bishop that can only ever really stare at either his own pawns or the d6 target. And while d6 is definitely a target, how is white going to mount pressure on it with any other piece? Black doesn’t really have much active play, but white has a whole lot of work to do to prove that he’s better here.

So to answer you it’s not necessarily about a weakness in whites camp that you missed; it is about how the weaknesses on your side are incredibly difficult to exploit by the opposition.

[hard pagoda]

Makes sense

Ty

[dusky hull]

I would assume what happened earlier is that at some point in the early game you pinned the f3 knight to the queen, they blocked with the lsb on e2, and then after trades they recaptured with the lsb. This game would be very different if they traded with the g pawn instead.

After a few moves like Kh1, Rg1, and using the doubled f pawn to dislodge the dsb bishop fixture, white could have real attacking chances.

Always funny how decisions from 20 moves ago can influence the game in such dramatic ways.

Okay well the king is already on h1 but you get my point

[hard pagoda]

Indeed

[hard pagoda]

But you’d never tell someone at my level to play gxf6

[dusky hull]

There’s a real argument for it if two conditions are met:

1. e4 has been committed and is blocked either directly by e5 or indirectly by d6

2. Black has already committed to castling kingside

If those criteria are reached, gx all the way

[dusky hull]

originally i had only showed this to asiano, but i figure this is a good exercise in the ever-classic question "how do you play against people who dont follow an opening?"

Here my opponent was definitely trying to flex on me with a5 and h5. Safe to say we shut that down. https://lichess.org/BAa9AGdd/white#1

[hard pagoda]

Re4 is a thing of beauty. Well finished

The other move that stood out to me as something I wouldn’t have even contemplated was Ba3 to prevent the short castle

[dusky hull]

It was a bit multipurpose. Yes to prevent short castles but also to severely constrict his queenside development. A fun move i had briefly considered was 15. c5 instead of defending the knight. After c5 he has literally no hope of ever getting those pieces out of the corner, and if he takes my knight, he’s running his king toward me. I probably should have played that because that’s more my style but oh well

For the record, I am actively trying to get back into chess again with a routine so if any of you would like to play, feel free to tag. Standing offer.

[hard pagoda]

Ain’t no way

This is a guy who in his previous 3 games (all losses) was taking 5 seconds per move and getting accuracy scores in the 50s-60s. And then against me he’s 20s per move and 98.8….

[tardy finch]

Report and move on

[tardy finch]

You might want to check out the Evans gambit. Not an opening you should know by heart but definitely a great source of inspiration

Ba3 in that one is basically taking the reins and telling Black to suck it

[old blade]

since i never posted something here, i start with a typ of position i usually struggle with:
Midgame where it looks like there is not much to improve my position
....but white has a way to improve

[tardy finch]

...there is actually a super sick mate trap in here

[old blade]

which i proudly found

[tardy finch]

||Bxh6 and then Black cannot capture the bishop or else there will be too much space for attack. If Black decides to recapture, Rxf7 and then you just weave the net||

[tardy finch]

Okay, that is quite something to spot in a game. Great job!

[old blade]

||ye lately tried to learn more about greek gift/sacrifice on king-side attack in general and i just randomly thought: "what if..."||

also im only 1,6k in 10min atm. So i guess theres a lot lot room to improve generally

[hard pagoda]

Gah I didn’t see that even when I spent 30s looking for it. Why am I blind!!!

Today’s chess.com daily is a banger

(It was yesterday’s, but still a banger)

[old blade]

why do i have a different daily puzzle?

[old blade]

but yeah i love this tactic. So hard to see when you dont know the idea

[hard pagoda]

I got the wrong day

[dusky hull]

this took me longer than i'd like to admit. i was trying to find the ways to do the N+B mate which led me down the entirely wrong path. pretty sure the winning move is the only winning move as well.

[dusky hull]

Here's a nice beginner-friendly example on defending. Black has one move that secures what is effectively a guaranteed draw--all other moves lose. What is that move, and then how do you hold this position?

[hard pagoda]

||I see no move other than Qxf7. Otherwise you’re either getting mated with Qg7 or losing your Queen if you block with Re5.||

||from there, Rxf7, Kxf7. Qf4+ follows and I’m moving king back to g8 but I think g7 works too||

||only thing I’m nervous about at that point becomes my 7th rank pawns but get a rook on e7 and we’re all sorted||

||really I think at that point black has a teeny advantage but going to be very hard to exploit it||

[tardy finch]

I haven't checked with an engine what the correct continuation is but I'm having the same "fuck it, we ball" approach to this so it's either the right answer or we both are losing to Pert here

[hard pagoda]

Yeah he’s making us wait….
But he did say it was beginner friendly so I assume I’ve not missed anything

[tardy finch]

I guess the beginner friendly part is the pattern recognition - one move looks forced and the general idea (to me) is neither side can make meaningful progress so it must be a draw

The actual proof is, uhm... Sorry, my pet ate my homework

[hard pagoda]

Spotting that positions like that are draws is something I need to work on. Inevitably as either side there id have gone on the attack, blundered a critical pawn and lost the game.

[dusky hull]

my fault gang. forgot to put the answer, but seems like you both got the general idea.

answer: ||Qxf7 giving up the queen for the 2 rooks. Otherwise you get mated or lose a lot of material trying to avoid it.||

How to hold: ||When thinking about holding a position together, one must be aware of what the opponent can do to undermine your weaknesses. In black's position, the weaknesses are b7 and h7 as those are the bases of the pawn chains. With that said, white lacks sufficient means of breaking through.

Despite there being a 2v3 on the KS, notice that a set of g pawns are doubled. The QS is a 3v3 which means either they restrict each other or they trade out. Black is the one with the passed central pawn, but getting it moving is easier said than done.

Black's claim is that since the rooks are excellently coordinated, they can block any check the queen throws while also limiting the white king's forward movement. As long as black simply keeps the rooks together on the e file, nothing has to be done. White can make as many improving moves as they want and it simply will not be enough.||

[tardy finch]

...||I was under the impression that the major idea was completely fucking up the white QS pawns with your rooks||

[dusky hull]

Good luck with that lol

Throw that into the engine and let me know how you escape the queen checks

[tardy finch]

Challenge acceped

||Qxf7, Rxf7, Kxf7, Qf4+, Kg7 -> here is where deviations start, I'm following the best line
a4, R3e4(R8e4 is super close), Qc7+, R8e7 aaaand no more checks

Queen is more or less locked in the nearby area as b and a pawns are in danger. But you cannot afford to attack them if a rook is under attack. So ... yeah, drawn.||

@dusky hull feel free to correct me

[dusky hull]

Well that’s what I meant when I said good luck taking the pawns while also escaping checks

The second you disconnect the rooks to pick up pawns, the queen strength becomes apparent

Black’s saving grace is the rook connectivity

There are a bunch of slight deviations of lines and in almost all of them black never really moves the rooks off the e file. I did see one example like where this isn’t the case but white would have to make some questionable decisions like gambiting a QS pawn

[dusky hull]

oh here's a cute one for yall. endgame, down an exchange and a pawn, but it is black to move and ||draw||.

Really try to see it through to understand why the outcome is what it is. I'm going to take this one a bit more in depth since I think this endgame is a good learning opportunity, so the answer will be broken up with a few additional pictures.

answer: ||e2+. okay, not that difficult of a move to spot considering its the only check in the position. if the king tries to block the promotion square Ke1, then Nc2+ wins the rook. if Kf2 instead, then e1=Q+ promotion Kxe1 and Nc2+ again forking the rook.||

||Now the question is the evaluation of this position. black is up a full piece, but there is the matter of white's outside a pawn. If left unchecked, that pawn will run. So black's best bet is to use the knight as a blockader for the outside pawn and use the king to to hold the 2v3. Despite being up a piece, the outside pawn is worth relatively about as much. Here's the final position of a sample line where this defensive strategy is employed. Notice that the knight is blockading one pawn and the black king is neutralizing the winner of the 2v3. If this plan is employed by black, the result of this game should be a draw regardless what white does.||

||A common mistake is to confuse the priorities of your pieces, especially in an endgame. That is to say in this position, to assign the king to blockading duties and the knight to trying to help the 2v3. Here's an example line of this plan playing out. In an endgame, it is the king who can bully a knight around. After Ke4, the white king is infiltrating. White will happily give up the passer to win blacks kingside pawns and make it a connected 3v0 where even sacrificing the knight won't be enough to stop white from promoting something.||

[old blade]

||Same position and pawn+knight are 1 square up would be satisfying for black. Finishing with Kb7->d8->f7#. The most elegant mate imo: Knight only ||

[hard pagoda]

Ok end game gurus. In this game I offered the draw and to be honest was glad white accepted because I only had 30s left on the clock. But black has the advantage with the better pawn structure and a bishop that’s actually in the game. How should I have capitalised?

[old blade]

since white has no real thread here, you gain the upper hand with the rook in their backline on the queenside

its a slow fight tho

[tardy finch]

When pieces are this packed, a lone rook cannot possibly bully you. Also, look at the enemy bishop, locked up in a cage for crimes against the monarchy. I would 100% focus on denying the enemy rook attempts to kick me out so the bishop can stay locked for as long as possible while slowly but surely pushing the a and b pawns.
Some examples:
Rd5 - immediately kick with Rd4 then move in the back and eliminate the a pawn.
a4 - counter with Re1 getting all the freedom in the back
f5 - capture with King
Draw offer - decline

[hard pagoda]

Should have said - white wasn’t trying anything - last few moves had been Rc2-Rd2. I was nervous about pushing the a and b pawns because they felt so strong with the bishop there

But yeah, in retrospect that’s the play. Just not with 30s left on the clock

[tardy finch]

Sometimes the clock is the most vicious and unforgiving opponent.

[dusky hull]

i lose on the clock all the time because im a schlub

i have this problem where ill see 2-3 good moves and i spend too much time trying to find the best move when realistically any choice would be better than wasting the clock

[hard pagoda]

Good way of thinking about it

[hard pagoda]

One for people of my level not @dusky hull …

Does black accept the draw here? Equal material, everything blocked off. If not, why not?

[dusky hull]

edit: i thought you tagged me because you wanted it solved lmao. deleted my comments, my fault king

[hard pagoda]

Ha. I assumed it was below your level! And I did manage to spot the opportunity myself in game.

[tardy finch]

Some of you(Pert in particular) might have seen me comment that sometimes I just instinctively know the right move but I can't explain it.
This is one of those cases.

My entire body just curled up in the shape of the correct notation but I just couldn't see more than four moves ahead ... and the blatant demonstration of the solution comes at the sixth move.

Good job for finding it in-game though

[hard pagoda]

well. I suppose somewhat like you. I didn't know exactly how it would pan it out: I just could sense it wasn't a draw.

[old blade]

https://lichess.org/Ix5K8BVz#0

just found a funny friendly game between a guildie and me

the ending is probably one of the rarest checkmates

||forced en-passant into castle-checkmate||

[dusky hull]

thats a nifty little ending

cant say ive specifically hit that that i can recall

[dusky hull]

just played this position as white where after a queen trade on axb6, white has the bishop pair and is up a pawn.

is this winning for white? what would be your strategy? there are about 3 or 4 good moves that are all evaluated relatively equally, so dont necessarily look for the next move. think of a plan.

the plan I went with: ||In the above position, I played Bf1, rerouting the bishop as it has no future on the closed light squares. My plan is I want to capitalize on the bishops' mobility to pressure the doubled pawns and promote my QS pawns. White is winning because the knights will struggle to effectively navigate the center and aren't in time to protect the b pawns.||

little bonus. my opponent resigned here. ||Instead of immediately taking the b7 pawn since its not going anywhere, I chose to dominate his knight, leaving it stranded. Next I'll take on b7 where d5 (and by proxy e4) will soon become permanent targets. Black's position falls apart.||

[hard pagoda]

Not looked at any of your answers yet. Just want to post my thought process

||yes, white is winning, but only narrowly. Isolated doubled pawns are a weakness for Black even without the pawn up. BUT - white bishops are both in pretty shit positions. They’re not acting as a pair, they’re up against the flanks, it’s quite a closed position, and white’s centre pawn pair looks pretty strong.

There are two moves that stand out to me. But I prefer f3, to break up that central pawn pair. Black probably responds Nh4, in which case f3xe4. At which point we’ve got a passed pawn once we trade a bishop for a knight. In general I think I’m leaving the queenside pawns to the end - trying to tie up his knights (or trade them off) to stop me getting a promotion from the d pawn. Then I can push queenside and he’s out of pieces to defend with.
If black takes f3 then||

[hard pagoda]

Ok that’s the other thing I was considering (at least getting my bishops in that position), so that’s somewhat reassuring.

Urgh my first plan was bad

||end up with knight on d5 and no good way of dislodging it.||

[tardy finch]

Here's one from me. I find it a good example for why you should take the time to analyze the changes in the board and not be zealous with your initial plan.

Black has now been preparing an attack on the kingside for a while. White has shown no desire to defend - in fact even going after Black's queenside pieces. This puts us in this fun position where White throws a check as an in-between move(or zwischenzug for the tryhards).

Going with your gut feeling, who is winning in this position?
A. If you answered White, then assume ||f6|| is played and review the position again.
B. If you answered Black, then assume ||Kg8|| is played and review the position again.
C. If you changed your answer after reviewing the position, assume the continuation of ||Kg8, Ne7+, Kf8|| - how do you get out of this one?

[hard pagoda]

||I have black in front, thinking f6 is played. Kg8 looks like a catastrophic blunder to me. Your moves in C get played followed by gxh4 to remove the immediate problem on white’s kingside. Qxh4 probably follows but I reckon Qxc7 then ends the game. White has a meaningful material advantage and black has no mate threat left.||

||@tardy finch what did I miss? Is there a better move for black than Qxh4?||

[hard pagoda]

||update - Qd3 for black after gxh4 is better. I still think white is winning but I need to figure out the next move…||

[tardy finch]

I wouldn't say you missed anything - if ||Qxh4, then Qxc7 wins on the spot|| and you are correct that ||Qd3 is better than Qxh4 - except you are met with a brilliant sacrifice from White. Try to find that one.||

[hard pagoda]

Ok I wouldn’t have got that if you hadn’t have hinted what to look for

||Qg7+ leads to KxQ and then Nf5+ forks the Queen. And we’re back to white having distinct material advantage and black having no mating threat||

[dusky hull]

White plays Kc2 to prophylactically dodge the threat of Qa1 which would pick up the rook on e1. Unfortunately for white, this was not the correct defense. Find the knockout punch for black (there are several moves that are good, but one is better than others)

difficulty: beginner, approx 1100

answer: ||While there are several moves that create headaches for white such as a4 and Rd7--general improving moves that either take away squares from white or plan to make use of the d file--the best move is retreating the queen Qd5. Qd5 attacks the undefended rook on c6 while also immediately creates a battery on the d file to target d2, which would pick up the rook on e1. White will be parting with one of these pieces, black will be up a full rook and winning.||

From now on I'll try to estimate how difficult I think a puzzle is before posting. For the 2 people who still do these lol.

[hard pagoda]

Fun one today. I was white, but fortunately my opponent didn’t spot the way to get a decisive lead. Can you do better? I reckon this is 1300 sort of difficulty

[tardy finch]

Without even looking for tactics, Black's structure just looks so much better. Which invites tactics so I am surprised your opponent didn't capitalize on this opportunity.
The key move I think has to be played here is a multi-purpose move - ||Qf5. This presents the threat on the dsb but also threatens Qxc2+ which attacks the rook. One of the pieces has to go as the bishop cannot defend f4(Nf4+ is a royal fork), itself and c2(light square). This means Black will pick up at least one piece from the enemy, putting evaluation at -3.0 at minimum||. Oh, and there are no checks. ||If you didn't read the first spoiler, you are likely confused, go read it.||

P.S. For those of you who are thinking of ||Bd2||, consider this - ||Nxf4 anyway, bishop HAS to take, Qxc2+ still follows through because fuck you and your plans. Blocking with either queen or bishop will mean the rook gets picked up but the only legal moves for the king are on the 1st rank so that will be a rook capture with check.||

[hard pagoda]

||do you mean Qf5?||

[tardy finch]

Yes, I do.

Allow me to correct that

It's not the first time I am getting completely lost in my thoughts and therefore fucking up the GOD DAMN FIRST MOVE OF THE SEQUENCE

[hard pagoda]

||You got the right answer in your P.S.
It’s basically a rook and a pawn for a knight||

[tardy finch]

While that is true, you still have the threatS(yes, plural) of ||exd6|| and ||Qc6||. So you need to address those, therefore unless you provide some potential defense with ||Qf5 again||, the whole line crumbles. Pretty sure it is back to equal if you play something silly like ||e6||. It's a sharp line and I am sure @dusky hull will love it.

[hard pagoda]

On reflection, I think Qd2 from white might be better than Bd2. You lose the e and then h pawns but nothing else?

[tardy finch]

That is more than enough though. Your bishop movement is limited to nothing so you have to commit ||Rb7|| or ||Re1|| to potentially untangle the position. None of those addresses potential queen checks and piece shuffling so Black is in full control from here on. Your pieces might remain in play but you are on permanent defense from now on.

[hard pagoda]

Oh agree

(Instead, black blundered with e6, avoided exchanging queens, and got mated a few moves later as a result)

[dusky hull]

didnt even calculate. ||Qf5|| does like 4 different things, it has to be the move

white probably has a way to only lose the exchange, but yea after that move black is very clearly taking over

[hard pagoda]

Today in chess.com trolling

Ba3+ is a great move, but Qa1# was available???

[tardy finch]

ChatGPT says it loses to Rhxa8

[hard pagoda]

I got confused for a bit there…

ChatGPT playing chess is a meme thing I assume?

[tardy finch]

Look for the game between ChatGPT and Stockfish

But in short, yes

[hard pagoda]

🤣

Ok that was good for a 3min laugh

Poor stockfish

[teal furnace]

gothamchesses chatbot tournament is a delight to watch

[dusky hull]

I hope some of you caught the Esports chess tourney

there was some sick content in there

[teal furnace]

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/141431273076/analysis?move=83

i completely missed that tourney bcs of work

but i played a decent game just now

:D

[teal furnace]

oh my fucking god

actually not a decent game atall

😂

[tardy finch]

I cheered on move 32 when the bishop finally got captured

[hard pagoda]

It’s endgame time

Black to move. Who’s winning, and why? What’s your plan as black?

[tardy finch]

Solution imo:
||Both rooks are dogwater... so it's probably best to explore what could happen if one is elevated in quality.
White has the king cut off from the action, unable to join at all. "Fastest" way to fix that is through c3, creating a weakness on the third rank. (even if the kings still needs so many moves to get there)
Meanwhile, White is maintaining the threat on h7 with their own rook which is otherwise kind of ass. The one rook move that covers both of these incoming threats is Rh3 from Black.

This leaves a few options for White - move the rook to threaten the b-pawn as to create a passed a-pawn, move the a-pawn itself or play a passive waiting move in the for mof b3. All of that sucks for White.
If the threat on h7 is gone, push g5 and work on getting those two pawns to gang up on the White king.
If a4, Re3, preparing Re2+(unreasonable to try and stop it) and then annihilating White's pawns.
If some waiting move is played, in-between Rg3+ can be played as to force White to choose between us pushing the h-pawn or them losing all of their pawns.||

Prediction:
||If played perfectly, this is likely going to end up in Black forcing a promotion, White sacrificing the rook for it and then turning into a rook+king vs lone king mating drill.||

[hard pagoda]

Yeah. I didn’t see any of that with any clarity - just saw the white rook gobbling my queen side pawns and so marched my king over to protect the last two. At which point I’d lost all the initiative and one more small mistake ended the game.

My 5min rating has taken an absolute battering recently. Can’t put my finger on why: just seem to be making a lot of catastrophic blunders for no good reason

But maybe today’s game was me turning the corner

Check out this #chess game: mazesterk vs FigTree4 - https://www.chess.com/game/141587914636

5 moves of the same knight in succession, that early in the game, probably isn’t straight out of the textbook. But then I got to sac it for a lovely mate a few moves later

[teal furnace]

ahahahhahah I STG that bishop was NOT there as long as recap says

[dusky hull]

here's a fun exercise in thinking dynamically. in this position, white opens up his undefended dsb to my queen, hoping to deflect the queen away from guarding b7. note that if I do play Qxf4, the next move played is assuredly going to be Bxb7.

First question: can black capture the bishop? Is Nxb3 trading queens just as good or better? Be concrete in your reasoning

This is the ensuing position. White plays ||Qb2 getting out of the knight's attack since if the bishop moves for a discovered check, the knight picks up the queen||.

Second challenge: how would you approach this position now as black? what are some options? hint: there are 3 moves that are all good here, so see if you can spot them all.

This is the final position I will showcase. I opted into the ||Ba3|| line ||which attempts to deflect his queen away from the battery and also from guarding d2.|| The line continued ||Qb5 Qd2+ Kf1||.

Final challenge: find the only move for black in this position that keeps advantage.

answers to all:

1. ||Qxf4 is undoubtedly the best move. You have to recognize that although we lose the b pawn and our king aligns with the battery, white lacks a safe way of establishing a discovered check. If we instead played Nxb3 then Bxc7 Kxc7 Rxb3 b6 and we enter an endgame a pawn down. Maybe holdable, but certainly not winning for black.||

2. ||Aside from Ba3, Qe5+ and Nc4 are also valid options, however black will have to fight a bit more to end white's attack.||

3. ||The immaculate Bc5 which is simultaneously an attacking and defending move. Bc5 threatens mate in 1 on f2, and now if white does a discovered check by moving the lsb, we always have Bb6 blocking. Furthermore, if white plays what they played in the game which is Qxc5, then we have mate in 4 since the queen is no longer defending the rook on b1, so Qd3+ picks up the rook and wins the game in a few moves.||

cant lie, i was very proud of myself to spot both ||Ba3|| and ||Bc5||. that made me happy.

[tardy finch]

Chess channel is dead, long live the chess channel!

White is obviously in the lead by a huge margin. Before the queen blunder from Black, game was equal-ish.

Everyone challenge: find a way to punish Black's last move.
Slightly advanced challenge: how do you approach checkmate and lure the Black king out
Pert, Itsy, Antaresos challenge: find mate in 7

[hard pagoda]

||PIN THAT ROOK. That seems obvious. Qe4. Kf6 follows. Need to shift the King and marching the h pawn up the board isn’t an option because h4 is met with h5. So let’s get the white king out the way to pull the rook in. I prefer Kh1 to Kh2 or Kf2, so that we can’t be checked by black rook x a2.

I can’t see any black move that stops Rg1+. Kh7 follows, and then double the rooks on the g file with Rxg7 and it’s mate two moves later. But I think that means mate in 6 so I’m guessing there’s a black spoiler move to delay things that I’ve missed||

||update: I found the black move to delay things by one move. Rxa2, Rg1+, Rg2, Rxg2+||

[dusky hull]

played this absolute peach of a game that led to this moment. why is Rxg6 a mistake which throws away white's advantage? that is to say, find the best move for black if Rxg6 were played

difficulty: moderate

answer: ||Bf5, the only move that works: an attack on the rook, but equally as importantly as attacking the rook is clearing the bishop so the rook on d8 adds ample control over d6.

This is why Kh7 doesn't work--the white rook would be able to escape on d6. Similarly, Be8 doesn't work due to the fact that the black rooks get disconnected, so Rxg7+ followed by Rxd8 is made possible. And so the rook is trapped.||

[hard pagoda]

I got that one pretty quickly so I’m not sure it’s moderate difficulty! Doubt I’d have spotted it in game however.

||Rg4 is probably the follow up? At which point it’s knight and bishop for a rook and doubled pawns in front of the king. Doesn’t seem awful @dusky hull ?||

[hard pagoda]

No idea what I was doing wrong on the way from 1250 to 1050. No idea what I’ve been doing right on the way back up. Not the first time this has happened. Stoopid game.

[old blade]

one of my favorite constructed mates: Mate in 130

[hard pagoda]

Wot? I’m just going to throw this at the engine….

[hard pagoda]

Predictably engine says white just plays for the draw. And I’ll be honest I’m a bit lost. I could see that maybe white can get some of the black pieces off the board while maintains checks every move. But once the 1st rank knights are gone and a couple of white diagonal pawns…

[hard pagoda]

Or have I misunderstood and this is black moves and mates in 130?

[old blade]

White moves and mate in 130

Rather look for a concept than the mate. What are your threads and what’s blocking you from winning (faster)?

[tardy finch]

Literally figure out 5 moves then repeat them until the end. Fun idea though.

And if one were to try and recreate this in a game, just keep in mind that h3 pawn started as a d pawn

[hard pagoda]

Ayayayayaya

Gotta leaving black with no moves left except moving the bishop

[old blade]

Yeah I think that’s impossible to recreate

ChatGPT might be able to

[tardy finch]

Well, in theory, you can reach this position, it's just highly unlikely you'll manage to do so without accidentally checkmating White

[tardy finch]

HEY GUYS

PERT IS PLAYING CHESS

WISH HIM LUCK

[dusky hull]

3-2 result in a rapid tourney. Would’ve been 4-1 but I got flagged at the end of round 3. My opponent literally had 2 seconds when I timed out. I’m going to be thinking about that L for awhile

[hard pagoda]

How rapid is rapid in this case?

[dusky hull]

10+0

My wins were emphatic and my losses were heartbreaking

In the first round I sacrificed two pieces for a brutal attack. I was feeling myself. Round 2, played a tartakower carokann and mushed my opponent under tons of pressure. Round 3 was an English kinda where my opponent dropped 2 pawns and I maintained a better position the whole game. But my dumbass made a mental decision to go for checkmate when I should have just played the clock. Round 4 I was playing a 2100 and got nervous and blundered a piece out of the opening (see? I blunder). And then round 5 I trapped my opponents bishop and won the game since he was effectively down a piece going into the endgame.

[dusky hull]

alright boys

big news

in round 2 of my classical tournament, I beat a USCF 1850

I played a phenomenal game--definitely the best OTB game I've had--and I spotted a juicy tactic

Here's the position I had. I will say, by engine evaluation there is technically a stronger move. However, the move I played in this position had far too much swagger to not be played. I think the stronger positional move is easier to spot, but try to find both.

answer:
positional move I did not play: ||g5. you're ripping open white's pawns in front of the king. white lacks any good response to g5||

the move I played: ||Ng5!! This move earned me a brilliancy on the chess com review although it is objectively weaker than g5. The idea is creating a double threat. Ng5 combines with the queen to target h3 and also serves as a clearance for the queen to look at c2--which is important because look how white's king and queen are aligned. Rc2 is a terrible threat.||

now if you arrived at this conclusion or you saw the answer, here's one more challenge for you. what do you do if after ||Ng5|| white plays ||Qg2 with the concept of Rc2 is met by blocking with Re2||?

answer: ||you play it anyway. Ng5 Qg2 Rc2 and now the real beauty, Qxh3+, saccing the queen temporarily. if Qxh3 in reply, Rxe2+ Qg2 hoping black will play Rxg2 and go into a slightly worse for white endgame, but no, Nf3+ and the queen cant take because its pinned by the rook. King moves, rook takes, king takes, knight takes the bishop and you emerge up a piece in a totally winning endgame. I saw all of this OTB and that's what made me even happier.||

[teal furnace]

[hard pagoda]

Today in chess.com is mental

Describing this move as brilliant when the engine easily finds several better moves.

(There was an e4 pawn that my knight munched)

At the time I was “well it gets me 2 pawns and a rook for two minor pieces so it’s all good”.

[tardy finch]

Brilliant means decent to good move that HAS a sacrifice. You may play a galaxy brain move, if no sacrifice, then no brilliant.

Thus the other blue move (great? awesome?) is superior in my eyes as usually it's a clutch move that was important to find

[hard pagoda]

Black’s got a decent advantage here already. What’s the move that ends the game?

[tardy finch]

There's two actually.

First, there's ||Rxf1 which I know everyone wants to play but not everyone can immediately explain. Fun part is the move is actually unstoppable and will play exactly as imagined.||

Then there's ||picking up the clock and knocking your opponent out with it. Works like a charm.||

[hard pagoda]

Remind me never to play otb with you!

[tardy finch]

Apparently you can learn chess on Duolingo... Not even sure what to say, just thought I might share for those that have the app anyway

[hard pagoda]

Ok chess nerds

Not a puzzle

[old blade]

whats the question then?
G-pawn is kind of unstobbable long term for white

once it reaches g3 i dont see black to hold its blockade for long

[hard pagoda]

I lost this game from this position. Because of the fucking clock. Because my opponent just kept on playing nothing moves and I, under time pressure, couldn’t find a way to simplify the game and get the win.

So:

1. what’s the approach in this specific position?
2. what do you fall back on in similar positions - how do you turn winning position into win? Particularly when under time pressure? What do you look for?

[hard pagoda]

Sorry - got a call half way through!

[old blade]

g4->g3 and you basically pin both rooks to the g file
Rh2 forces the first simplification

you can also push queenside pawn army

2. i mostly look for forced simplifications into either a passed pawn or just farming down your opponents pawns with your simplified winning position and ending it with a pre-move-able checkmate sequence

i really try to avoid anything too fancy since time is worth a lot then

[tardy finch]

After g4 -Rg2 you cannot really go for g3 because that pawn will fall. Or you could trade your queen and pawn for two rooks, only to then see that the White queen is going to feast on your pawns in no time.
Personally, it may be passive but I would prepare this with Rh6 first. Maybe even chase the queen around, inviting a trade(which White shouldn't really take but kicking the queen out is nice either way).

Problem is, you said you are under time pressure - that is where the real issue lies as the position is definitely winning, but it requires grinding and you don't have the time. In cases like these, I would either look for a way to go for the jugular(nothing available here) or play moves that would shift the time pressure to my opponent. Rh6 is one such move as it doesn't really achieve much for the position, doesn't really affect your advantage but it removes the obvious Qxd6 from White's list of ideas, thus forcing the thinking on the other side. Not the best but if your clock is bleeding, a winning position might turn into a losing one.

[delicate peak]

Chess

[teal furnace]

[tardy finch]

Someone out there is getting mated and you're not

Keep winning, fellas

[teal furnace]

well i did get mated

lost the first ever chess 960 game against the woman i'm currently dating (she plays a bit of chess, my level, but never played 960)
blundered my queen

quite literally

[tardy finch]

Just because you lost the queen, doesn't mean you have to give up the king

date her dad

[hard pagoda]

I did recently get mated when I hadn’t spotted it coming. That really stung.

[old blade]

i didnt realize i was in the chess channel and thought this was the report of a felony

[teal furnace]

ahhahahahahaah

[hard pagoda]

It’s been a while, so here’s an easy-ish one. White’s winning, but I was a bit worried about how to convert in the remaining minute. Then black grabbed a free pawn. What’s the winning move for white? Keep in mind that after Rxd4, Ne2+ would fork Rook and King.

(This game was also another reminder for me of JUST PUSH THE PASSED PAWN)

Oh… and I’m one win away from 1300 blitz which has been the goal for a long long time. Expect my next six matches to be crushing losses.

[tardy finch]

I actually love this one as it shows how moves can reveal each other once a clear goal is set. Obviously, spoilers ahead:

First off, what do we want to do? ||Push the pawn and get a queen boiiiii.||
Now that we know that, what is stopping us? ||Two defenders of that square but we have only one defender of our own.||
So how would we fix that issue? ||Remove one of the defenders, obviously, then once we promote the pawn, we can capture the other defender with our rook.||
How is that remedy actually applied? ||We cannot reach the rook at all so focus is on the bishop. That one is currently defended by the knight AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, there is no checkmate threat as long as our a1 rook stays where it is. Can we attack the bishop with our remaining pieces? No. Can we block the bishop's vision of the a8 square? No. In that case, remove the defender of the bishop. Can we immediately do that. Well, no, but we can prepare for it and threaten the knight.||

||By playing Rxd4 we threaten the knight which cannot move as it would stop defending the bishop meaning White will safely capture it with the king. If Black is stubborn, g5 can be played to defend the knight which gives us the opportunity to play the brilliant Rxf4, sacrificing our rook to remove the knight. If Black captures our rook, we get the bishop and are up a piece(which also happens to be a piece that can assist in the pawn promotion) and if Black runs the bishop back, well.... we are up a full rook.||

It's an excellent extortion technique, I would say but in order to spot it, first you have to realize ||what your long-term priority is|| - spoiler as to not give a hint for the first step.

P.S. I realized I didn't address the other possibility for Black which should be examined - ||what if after Rxd4 Black plays Ne2+, forking our rook and king? Well, capture the bishop anyway, after Kxg2, Nxd4 we can immediately promote and win the rook. White is still up a piece and in a winning position.||

[hard pagoda]

||exactly. nice way of putting it. In the heat of the moment I spotted the Ne2+ fork (which is why I noted it in my question). But I also (just in time) spotted that despite losing a rook for a bishop it also ends the game.||

||(I didn’t even consider the other possibilities you mention)||

And I made 1300

🥳

This was the move that got me there. Massive anticlimax.

(I can only assume this was a pre-move thinking I’d never be so dumb as to play Na2. But why pre-move in the opening in 5min games?)

[tardy finch]

Welcome to bullet openings, where chess knowledge meets psychological terror

[hard pagoda]

I mean I’m used to it in 1|1 games

But 5 mins blitz gives plenty of thinking time

[hard pagoda]

I missed the opportunity here and lost this game. What should I have played next?

[tardy finch]

||Not giving this too much thought but Ng5? Queen and rook are trapped inside so when Nf7 arrives, one will fall.

To counter that, Black has to make space for escape(loses a piece) or block the bishop with e6 in which case bishop sac works, I think?

Ng5, e6, Bxe6..
If pawn captures back, Nxe6 forces the queen to move to e7, thus leaving Nxc7+ open which wins a rook.
If Qe7 is played, Nxf7 trades up.
If something weird like Nb6 is played, same idea, fork, trade up, maybe then trade bishops if possible.||

Feel free to tell me if I missed something.

[old blade]

||Bxf7 immediatly
KxBf7-> Ng5+
either Kf6 -> Qf3#
or Kf8 or Ke8 -> Ne6 (with fork or a trapped Queen)

So black is forced to play Kf8 losing castling rights, a pawn and having a clumped position||

[tardy finch]

Oh damn, completely missed that line. Good find!

With that in mind, I also missed ||Nh6|| completely shuts down my idea...

[hard pagoda]

Nailed it.

[hard pagoda]

Makes me feel better that I didn’t spot it during the game. But it’s the second time I’ve had similar so I need to keep an eye out for it.

[tardy finch]

Well, the f7 square is notoriously weak so it's a common target. I am however crap at spotting attacks and should work on it.

[hard pagoda]

Yeah. If the knight isn’t in front of it, and the queen can get to c3 it’s open season.

[tardy finch]

Until your opponent pulls off some magical Traxler shit

Famously Tartakower said "All the blunders are already present on the board and waiting to be played"

So just as you expect your opponent's, don't forget about yours

[hard pagoda]

There’s nothing special to learn from this game. I’m just very proud of it. Opponent made a mistake early and I just kept battering down the door. Check out this #1016899716484706324 game: FigTree4 vs Helioselva - https://www.chess.com/game/live/144108604358

Oh actually there is something you can all learn. NEVER EVER EVER accept the Scotch as Black. 4. Nxd4 Nxd4 is described as a book move for Black but should honestly be classed a blunder.

[teal furnace]

very neat checkmate i spotted against the misses

Check out this #1016899716484706324 game: richyvee vs LisiFletzi - https://www.chess.com/daily/game/870119465

[hard pagoda]

White to move. Win a pawn

[hard pagoda]

Not a single response 😞 Hunter chess is dying out.

||Bb6 wins the c7 pawn - if c7xb6 then Nxb6 winning the d6 bishop (because the rook has to move).||

And a different type of puzzle… how did black end up in this predicament after only 8 moves? Their first four moves were textbook Scotch. What was their 5th?

[tardy finch]

I mean... I'm curious too, tripled pawns are rare

[hard pagoda]

So here’s the position after my 5th move:

There’s a move that seemingly follows solid opening principles, but ends up with all sorts of trouble

[tardy finch]

I know it's either ||b6 or d6|| but..... Why
Also, betting on the former.

[hard pagoda]

||d6, Nxc6,bxc6,Bxc5,dxc5,Qxd8, Kxd8||

||d6 looks like a reasonable move, defends the bishop and opens the way for WSB to develop. But it’s a clusterfuck in waiting||

I really should learn some other openings as well as I know the scotch.

[hard pagoda]

Oh if you’re ever in this position as black you play Qf6. Nothing else works

Weirdly I don’t think I’ve ever played against the scotch….

[tardy finch]

Today I got to watch some old men play chess in the park. I had forgotten this soothing feeling, the serenity of observing a sharp position get sharper with every move...

And the unmatched frustration from seeing the position ruined by defensive play

[teal furnace]

[tardy finch]

My puzzle rating has apparently thrown itself off a cliff two weeks ago

Did chess com reset ratings or something

[hard pagoda]

Looks like it

[tardy finch]

And thing is, I apparently get like 2-4 rating per puzzle but lose 10-15 if I get it wrong

I see why Magnus is fed up grinding his ELO

[hard pagoda]

I think it was me hitting 2500. Forced them to nerf everyone

[hard pagoda]

https://www.chess.com/news/view/announcing-new-puzzles-rating-system

@tardy finch

[tardy finch]

Alright, that is sensible

[hard pagoda]

Yeah it is

I’m still 600 points above my blitz rating though 🤣

Setting to pick harder puzzles is nice

[tardy finch]

This can't be true, lad was younger than me

[half hedge]

it's true :/

29...

[hard pagoda]

yikes

[dusky hull]

shut the fuck up

no dude thats just

fuck.

[half hedge]

yeah honestly foudn out mid raid

and it just idk

it hit hard man

[cyan elm]

That is so devastating

[dusky hull]

I’m quite upset i can’t lie. He was easily my favorite educational YouTuber

[cyan elm]

Same I loved his content

[dusky hull]

I've taken a bit of a break from chess following my tournaments so I could focus on work and my professional career. With that said, Danya's passing really struck me so I returned to play a few games of the English.

Punish black for thinking he could so easily remove the knight from its outpost.

answer: ||Windmill! Bb6 attacks the queen. Only move for black to save the queen is Qe8, but now the knight can jump in Nc7 forking the Queen and Rook. Black of course doesn't want to part with the queen so Qd8, but Nxa8 which protects the bishop and renews the bishop's attack to the queen. Qe8 again, Nc7 again, Qd8 again, and finally Nd5 back to its starting position, now simply up a full rook.||

[hard pagoda]

Was happy I got that one pretty quickly @dusky hull . Surprised an opponent at your level walked into it so easily.

In my game today, black has doubled up queen and rook on the open d file, but forgotten to develop any minor pieces. Punish them for their foolishness.

(I missed this first time round but they gave me a second nibble a move later by which I’d spotted the way to do the damage)

[tardy finch]

Turns out the happy side of my brain suppresses the chess side. So, being in a marvelously shitty mood, I am willing to take a bet that your initial move was ||Qf5+ and not Bc4||.
So what is the idea behind either listed and how they differ? Simple - abuse Black's weakness in ||not wanting to lose their queen so they instead lose the king.||

||The king is not only weak in defense, Black is also stacked on a file which White can win AND their strongest piece is leading the front.|| In other words, multiple things you don't want but since they overlap, the effects are much worse.
So what is White's attacking plan? ||Threaten the king and use the fact that everything is lined up and you only need to open the gates by moving the bishop away.||
How do we execute that? ||...move the bishop away||
What are the possible responses from Black?
||1. Qc5/Qb6 - human favorites, as they save the queen. Both lose to Qf5+ which now forces checkmate through the f5-c8 diagonal being strengthened by the open d-file which we will end up taking with our rook. The difference between playing Qf5+ as the first and now is in that exact file being open.||
||2. Ne7 - computer favorite, defends against Qf5+. Well, guess what, the queen is hanging, so YOINK.||
||Honorable mention - Kb8. It's not even a good move as you still lose the queen but helps understand why White doesn't need to capture it - if you look closely, defense is so atrocious that moving the queen away would immediately open the d-file and it's mate in one. The way to defend against that is to connect the rooks(if Ne7 was played, that would take even more time than otherwise) or move the c7 pawn before running the queen to b6... which gives you time to capture the queen anyway.

But if none of that is played, you have the sly Nb5 which threatens the queen, keeps the back rank mate possible and opens the possibility of committing to an attack on the left side of the board. That's another soul devoured.||

[hard pagoda]

I played Rd2. I’d ruled out Qf5+ as it didn’t actually get me anything just yet. I thought I needed more on the d file so planned to double rooks.

[half hedge]

Honestly still hit hard by Danya's passing..been keep an eye on the Kramnick stuff

[dusky hull]

Shit blows

Chess has taken a back seat in my life for the past month because of work but losing Daniel really fucking sucked and still sucks. I would always look forward to his videos.

[half hedge]

Yeah..i used to watch him in the morning whilst i baked cookies for azor

[old blade]

You are baking cookies for azor?

[delicate peak]

they're rly good

[old blade]

Damn I’m jealous.

[half hedge]

:> They're shaped like ducks

[hard pagoda]

Sharing this because it’s so rare for my Botez gambits to be 1. Deliberate and 2. Successful

Thought it was way too obvious to work but not itself a terrible move so gave it a go.

Black played Bxg5 and promptly resigned

[tardy finch]

If playing OTB, don't forget to touch the piece first then swiftly pull your hand back, acting like it was a mistake. Most of the time your opponents will bait themselves and kindly remind you of the "touch-move" rule, making the gambit a success. You have Sire de Legall to thank for the psychological warfare.

[teal furnace]

is it a botez gambit is its 1 deliberate and 2 successful tho

[teal furnace]

omfg this is brilliant

[delicate peak]

♟️Chess

[teal furnace]

[hard pagoda]

Fun position from a quick 5min game today

I played the fairly obvious Nb6 fork but there were two better options. What are they?

[dusky hull]

||Rx|| and your fork both popped out at me in 10s. still looking for the other move

ahh ||Nxb5|| i shouldve known. i saw there was something there but I dismissed it because I couldnt immediately see how to make ||Bxb5|| work

blindspots!

[hard pagoda]

Rxf6 is the right move. But what’s the continuation assuming black doesn’t take back with the e pawn. Let’s say they play Bb7

[dusky hull]

Yea I mean that part is easier. If ex then Nx and if literally anything else than Rxg because h file pin

Rook gets offered up not once but twice and blacks position gets crumpled

[dusky hull]

oh this is just a really good one. dynamic thinking required, will be a bit challenging https://lichess.org/training/3X8QA

if anyone tries this and wants some hints:

hint for move 2: ||there's no saving that rook. it's a goner, you have to accept that. but how and where you lose it can make an impact||
hint for move 3: ||great, we've forced a target on a3, but he still has counterplay elsewhere on the board. the target can be pressured at any time, there's no rush. how can we take away the only source of counterplay from white?||

[hard pagoda]

I decided if anything was worth resurrecting the chess thread for, this was;

[tardy finch]

Show game

[hard pagoda]

https://www.chess.com/game/live/164003663840

(I was playing bullet for shits and giggles, while taking a shit)

[teal furnace]

https://youtu.be/jLxTR2MiJ40?is=iS6UegVFS8HKyHBM

thoughts on the new product?

[hard pagoda]

All I want from a chess product is something that can tell me why a particular move is a shit move.

Like this pawn move here took me from -1.6 to +0.4. Pretty major fuck up. But I’ve not left a piece hanging or doubled my pawns or given up castling rights… Surely someone can build me something that tells me what threats it opened up, or what principles it violated. Then I can learn from it.