Missed tactics, part 1
Then there is the question of memory and association. How much of the puzzle-solving experience am I retaining, and of what is retained how much does my intuition know to access when the situation on the board calls for it? After all, the puzzles that Chess.com and Lichess give are random and detached from any context, and rare is the puzzle from which I learn a concrete lesson. More often than not, I enjoy the dopamine rush of seeing I got the solution right, or suffer the disappointment of getting it wrong, and move on to the next puzzle without deeper analysis. This got me thinking: What if I made puzzles out of my own games? Then they would be familiar to me and, presumably, I would process and remember them better thanks to their association with my openings and particular style of play. This is where the blog comes in, and below is the first installment in what I plan on making a recurring feature.
1. 2024-01-18, game 1
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| Black to move |
Explanation: Black would like to capture White's undefended pawn with 10...Nxd4, but after 11.Bxh7+ and 11...Nxh7 it looks like White can recapture with 12.Qxd4 and Black has not only failed to win material but has also exposed his king along the h-file. This was as far as I had calculated in the game and why I missed Black's best move. Calculating further reveals that recapturing with 12.Qxd4 loses White a piece. How so? Because Black can fork with 12...e5; and if 13.Qxe5, Black has 13...Re1 and White's queen is lost. Hence after 12...e5 White has to move the queen somewhere, and Black captures the knight with 13...exf4. Important to note is that the line above does not work if after 11.Bxh7+ Black recaptures with 11...Kxh7; because after 12.Qxd4 and 12...e5 White can give check with 13.Qd3+ and use the extra tempo to move the knight out of danger.
Solution: 10...Nxd4
2. 2024-01-18, game 2
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| Black to move |
Explanation: Black has a bish-and-queen battery pointed at g3, but it looks like White's king is adequately defended since the pawn on f2 defends against 18...Bxg3. This was as far as I had calculated in the game and why I missed Black's best move. Calculating further reveals that recapturing with 19.fxg3 loses White the bishop on e3. How so? Because 19...Qxg3+ would not only check the king but also attack the bish. 20.Kh1 would be forced, and Black would capture with 20...Qxe3.
Solution: 18...Bxg3
3. 2024-01-19, game 1
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| White to move |
Explanation: Black is threatening 30...Rxe4, and it looks like White has to move the knight to safety or counterattack with 30.Bg2. What White would like to do is give a check with 30.Bf5+ and force Black's king to the h5 square, but Black would reply 30...Kxf5 and seize the advantage. Does White have a move that prepares 32.Bf5+? I wasn't looking for such a move in the game on account of the threat to my knight, but after 30.Rd5 and 30...Rxe4 White has the continuation 31.Bf5+ winning Black's rook. If Black tries 30...Nh4, double-defending the f5 square, White still has a winning position with the moves 31.Bf1 and 32.Bd3 preparing a discovered check.
Solution: 30.Rd5
4. 2024-01-19, game 2
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| Black to move |
Explanation: White's rook on c2 was preventing Black's capture of the bishop on c1. Once the rook repositioned on a2, it looks like Black's best move is to chop the bish with 30...Rxc1; and after 31.Rxc1 and 31...Rxc1, Black is up a piece. Although that reply, which was the move I played in the game, is still winning, it misses a forced checkmate. How so? Black has a knight on d6 that is poised to join the attack on White's king. After 30...Ne4+, White has two choices: 31.Kh2 leads to mate with 31...Rh1#, and 30.Kf3 leads to 31...Rd3+, followed by 32.Be3 and mate with either 32...Rdxe3# or 32...Rexe3#.
Solution: 30...Ne4+
5. 2024-01-20, game 1
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| Black to move |
Explanation: White is threatening to capture Black's queen with 8.Bxd8, and it looks like Black's top priority should be to address that threat by either blocking the bish or moving the queen to safety. Alternatively, Black could go on the offensive, either counterattacking White's queen with 7...Bxf3 or capturing the bish with 7...Qxg5. What makes finding the best move difficult is keeping track of the moves and exchanges of material in each possible line. Although I considered counterattacking, I failed to visualize the sequences correctly and consequently played the defensive 7...f6. What happens after 7...Qxg5? White recaptures with 8.Nxg5, then Black replies 8...Bxd1; and after White recaptures with 9.Rxd1, both sides exchanged bishops and queens. What happens after 7...Bxf3? White can't recapture with the queen, because after 8.Qxf3 comes 8...Bxd8 and White is losing. If after 7...Bxf3 White continues 8.Bxd8 and Black replies 8...Bxd1, then Black is up a piece; and if White continues 9.Rxd1, equalizing material, Black replies 9...Kxd8 and is again up a piece.
Solution: 7...Bxf3
6. 2024-01-20, game 2
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| White to move |
Explanation: Black is threatening 26...Bxf3, and it looks like White has to choose between 26.Kg2 and 26.Re3 in order to defend the knight. I went with the former -- but White had a move that would immediately put Black on the defensive: attacking the Black queen. How so? 26.e6 leaves Black with no good replies. If 26...fxe6, White forks queen and bish with 27.Ne5. If 26...Rxe6, White's best continuation is 27.Rxe6, and any way Black recaptures is bad. If 26...Qe8, White captures with 27.exf7 and is a square away from promotion. If 26...Qc6, White discovered-attacks with 27.Qd2 and uses the tempo to take on f7. If 26...Bxe6, White invades Black's castle with 27.Bxg6.
Solution: 26.e6
7. 2024-01-23
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| White to move |
Explanation: The point of Black's rook lift was presumably to follow up with 18...Rh5, preparing a kingside attack. However, mobilizing the rook off the back rank means White can exploit the pin of the knight on f6 to the queen on d8. How so? After 18.Bxh7+, if Black recaptures with 18...Nxh7 his queen is lost to 19.Qxd1+. Since the king cannot recapture and has to move, Black is left with a semiopen h-file that White can use to his advantage in attacking the king.
Solution: 18.Bxh7+
8. 2024-01-24
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| Black to move |
Explanation: White and Black are in a race to promote passed pawns, and White has just vacated the b7 square for his passed b-pawn to advance to. Not knowing how to proceed, I played 49...Rb3, repositioning my rook on a square that both attacked White's b-pawn and defended my f-pawn. In so doing, however, I went from a winning position to a drawn position. What did I need to play in order to maintain the advantage? I believe the answer involves Black's king getting on the side of the f-pawn where White's rook would not be able to harass him with checks and where he would also be in striking distance of White's pawn on the h-file. The engine-recommended 49...Kg3 satisfies these conditions. After Black sacrifices his rook on b8 and White sacrifices his rook on f1, Black is faster getting to White's h-pawn than White is getting to Black's.
Solution: 49...Kg3
9. 2024-01-25, game 1
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| White to move |
Explanation: Seeing that my queen was lined up with Black's, I thought that after 14.Nxd5 I might lure Black into recapturing with 14...Qxd5 and win the queen with 15.Qxd5. Black did not fall for the trap, but White had a more forcing and winning move arising from the absence of a knight on f6. After 14.Bxh7+, if Black recaptures with 14...Kxh7 he loses the bishop to 15.Qh5+; and if instead 14...Kh8, White still deploys the queen with 15.Qh5 and Black's position is collapsing.
Solution: 14.Bxh7+
10. 2024-01-25, game 2
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| White to move |
Explanation: Black is threatening to open files on the queenside, and if that happens his rooks will dominate the board and White's undeveloped kingside will be powerless to stop them. White's only hope is to keep the queenside files closed long enough to get his pieces out. Failing to understand these positional dynamics, I played 21.Bb5, allowing Black to take on b4 and invade with ease. How could White keep the queenside files closed? After 21.b5, Black has to move his knight; and with 22.c6 White links b- and c-pawns into a chain, making it harder for Black to penetrate.
Solution: 21.b5
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