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      Home  >  Chess Improvement • Chess Puzzles  >  A refresher

      A refresher

      Chess tactic, Puzzle Solving


      White to move. How should white proceed? Can you find the best continuation in 30 seconds or less?

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      23 Comments

      1. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 7:09 am

        “Can you find the best continuation in 30 seconds or less?”

        Sadly not. All in all I needed around 3 minutes to see 1.Nf5+ and check the lines after 1…Kf6.

      2. sivka-burka Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 7:27 am

        1. Nf5+ Kf6 2. Rd6+ Re6 3. Qh8+ Kg5 4. Qh4#

      3. prof.S.G.Bhat Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 7:46 am

        1Nf5+ kf6 (if1…gxN 2Qh6+ Kg8 3Qh8#)
        2Rxd6+ Re6
        3Qh8+ Kg5
        4Qh4#
        I spotted 1Nf5+ depriving black K f6 square if N gets captured within 5 seconds but full solution took longer than 30 seconds.

      4. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 7:51 am

        hint: the recent Historic Joplin, Mo. tornado was rated ______?

      5. fuzzylogic Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 8:06 am

        After noticing that starting with the queen almost works but not quite I would say starting with Nf5+ and mating in combination with the queen is the way to go!

      6. pht Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 9:22 am

        The idea of Nf5 came to me within 30 seconds, but I needed more time to be sure.

        1. Nf5+

        a)
        1. … gxf5 (Kg8/Kf8 Qh8#)
        2. Qh6+ Kg8
        3. Qh8#

        b)
        1. … Kf6
        2. Rxd6+ Re6 (Kg5 Qh4#)
        3. Qh8+ Kg5
        4. Qh4#
        or
        3. Qh4+ g5
        4. Qh6#

      7. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 10:56 am

        newbie here, but Qh7?

      8. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 12:08 pm

        No in 30 seconds. Much more 🙁

        Best regards
        Stef

      9. José María Lasso Frías Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 12:26 pm

        Hello

        1. Nf5+ , Kf6

        ( if Kf8 or Kg8 2. Qh8# )
        ( if gxf5 2. Qh6+ Kg8 3. Qh8# )
        2, Qh4+ , g5

        ( if Ke6 3. Ng7# )
        3. Qh6+ , Ng6
        4. Qg7+ , Ke6
        5. Rxd6#

        Greetings from Spain

      10. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 1:51 pm

        Nf5+ crushes

      11. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 1:52 pm

        Nf5+

      12. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 1:59 pm

        1. Nf5ch (if Kf6, then Rxd6. If gxN, then Qh6 and then Qh8mate)

        Booya

      13. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 2:28 pm

        Cool Hint, the joplin tornado was a f5 and Nf5 leads to checkmate.

      14. Cesar Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 3:05 pm

        Took less than 30 seconds to find the idea: 1.Nf5+

        But it took a lot longer plus moving pieces on the board to examine all the variations.

      15. Yancey Ward Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 3:07 pm

        I spotted the first move in less than 30 seconds, but the evaluation of it’s worth took a minute plus for me to be sure.

        1. Nf5 Kf6

        Here, Kf8 or Kg8 is mate after 2.Qh8, and gf5 is mate starting with 2.Qh6 followed by 3.Qh8. Continuing:

        2. Rd6

        One of the two points, for me, of Nf5 was clearing the line for this capture (the other point was to induce the capture at f5 so that the black king couldn’t hide from the queen at f6 after Qh6+). Continuing:

        2. …..Re6 (Kg5 3.Qh4#)
        3. Qh8 Kg5
        4. Qh4#

      16. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 3:16 pm

        well, i found the following mating lines:
        1. Nf5+ gxf5 (Kf8/g8, 2. Qh8#)
        2. Qh6+ Kg8
        3. Qh8#
        up to here – less than 30 sec. but this took me 2-3 minutes:
        1. … Kf6
        2. Rxd6+ Re6 (Kg5, 3. Qh4#)
        3. Qh8#
        greets, jan

      17. S.K.Srivastava Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 3:42 pm

        Nf5+ pxn 2Qh6 kg8 3qh8 mate

      18. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 3:49 pm

        nf5

      19. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 4:14 pm

        1. Nf5+ Kf6
        2. Qh4+ g5
        3. Qh6+ Ng6
        4. Rxd6+ Re6
        5. Qg7#

        rafa

      20. Lucymarie Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 5:11 pm

        Spotted the winning move in under 30 seconds, but it took a few minutes to work out all the variations. At least I’m old enough now that I have a good excuse!

        After 1. Nf5+

        1. … Kf6 2. Qh4+ g5 [2. … Ke6 3. Rxd6#] 3. Qh6+ Ng6 4. Qg7+ Ke6 5. Rxd6#

        1. … gxf5 2. Qh6+ Kg8 3. Qh8#

        1. … Kf8/g8 2. Qh8#

      21. Chris Bumcrot Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 6:31 pm

        Nf5 is the winner.

      22. Anonymous Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 7:43 pm

        Nf5! But way more tha 30 sec

      23. Venky [ India - Chennai ] Reply
        June 2, 2011 at 8:22 pm

        Hi Susan Polgar,

        Well, brainy minds of this blog had already discussed the best combination for this chess puzzle,nothing need to be added my side – Good

        By
        Venky [ India – Chennai ]

      Leave a Reply to Venky [ India - Chennai ] Cancel reply

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