English Chess Forum

Our own Nick Faulks is Black in today's puzzle position on chessgames.com.

Specifically

John Clarke wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 21, 2022 2:35 am

Our own Nick Faulks is Black in today's puzzle position on chessgames.com.

Thanks for spotting that. I have of course no recollection of the position or the game.

"Very easy" looks about right.

I'm not so sure I would give it a rating of "very easy" it is a clean win yes but in my eyes a very easy puzzle should be solvable by beginners without too much issue - this might be easy to higher level solvers but I would be amazed if even half of low level players could produce the correct first move.

Well, the more obvious approach of 1...Nd3+ 2.Kf1 Ne4 is going to mate in very short order; it's just not mate in 3 like 1...Nc2+ is.

Mondays are traditionally the "very easy" puzzle on chessgames.com, increasing in difficulty until the "insane" Sunday offering.

(though there has been the odd glitch in this)

Not the situation here, but I've never understood why the line with the shortest mate is "best".

If I've got a choice between sacrificing material for a forced mate in 6, or taking my opponent's queen - I take his queen. Less possibility of my having overlooked something, and he'll almost certainly resign anyway.

If you've overlooked something it's not forced

I guess that given we all have limited time on this earth most people would consider it "best" to end a game sooner rather then later, although there are certainly players who really love to savour a winning position and mess about for ages instead of getting on with finishing the job... They tend to grow out of this once they have been on the recieving end of a swindle or two.

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 21, 2022 11:42 am

Well, the more obvious approach of 1...Nd3+ 2.Kf1 Ne4 is going to mate in very short order; it's just not mate in 3 like 1...Nc2+ is.

The obvious move to me is ...Qf2+ with a probable draw, which is why I take three kinds of medication.

I'm not sure if Nick played Qc4 or Qa7 in the game, since they seem equally good. I suppose David might recommend Qf2