This position is from a recent chess game I played at ChessWorld. My opponent (White) made the mistake to leave his h-pawn unguarded and I was happy enough to capture the prey. I started to attack right away and a few moves later we were at the position shown here with Black to play. Black has a forced mate, do you see it? I certainly did not see it until the computer showed it to me during the analysis and continued with 19. ... Nf2+?. Fortunately, I got another opportunity to checkmate a few moves later and - oh wonder - used it to win the game.

I just started to assemble a "chess hall of shame" database with positions from my games where I blundered big time like above. I am planning to use the "chess hall of shame" positions to study tactics once I collected a reasonable number and hope that this will teach me especially in my weakest spots. Does anyone have experience with doing something like this? I believe I read on several occasions that some people do this, but cannot recall any information on the usefulness of this method.

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written by Atomic Patzer, July 26, 2007

Sciurus,

How about Ng3 Kxh2 Nxe2 kh1 Qh6# or Kh3 Qg3#. Heisman mentioned doing this in some of his novice nooks but I can't remember which ones.

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written by Trooper, July 26, 2007

A.Power: That is very clever as well. I think something like this should work too: 19 ... Nf2 20. Rxf2 Bg3 21. Rf1 Qh6 22. Kg1 Qh2#

I guess that's forced, assuming white moves Rf1 on move 21. Perhaps there's a way to sacrifice a piece to survive, but probably lose in the end due to material disadvantage anyway...

Very interesting puzzle. very interesting.

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written by Sciurus, July 26, 2007

Atomicpatzer:
that is just what Shredder prescribes.

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written by Sciurus, July 26, 2007

Trooper:

I was thinking along the similar lines during my game (see below) and put a lot of thinking time in this. White's only chance to escape after 19 ... Nf2 20. Rxf2 Bg3 is not to recapture but to block the path of the queen with 22. Bh5, thus losing a piece like you said.

However, what I played was 19 ... Nf2 20. Rxf2 Qh6 with the idea to exploit the fact that White's light squared B is still blocked by the f-pawn. But after 21. f4 Qh4 (to get ready to checkmate), White can play 22. Nf3 which I missed in my analysis. Lucky me that White missed it too and played 22. Rf3 instead.

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written by Andorrano, July 26, 2007

Friend,with 1...Qh6 2.g4(only move) Qh3 with the idea 3...Bg3 and Qh2,etc white position is really resignable.
I hope that two books help you!Read them with care, it is a good tip!

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written by Sciurus, July 27, 2007

Andorrano:
thanks for stopping by! I have the books you recommended me on my wishlist!

After 19. ... Qh6, I believe White's best move would be 20. fxe4 and after ... Bg3 White can block the path of the Q with 21. Bh5.

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written by Andorrano, July 27, 2007

Sciurus:
After 21.Bh5 Qg5 22.Nf3(only move) Qxh5 23.Kg1 Bg4 and white hopes are over.Sorry about that!.I hope my answers help you.You had really a mate attack!

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written by Andorrano, July 27, 2007

and I know that there is not a direct way to checkmate from 23...Bg4,but do you think really that the white king will survive for long in the center against all the black army?Maybe with a miracle,but man: God is too busy for chess!

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written by Sciurus, July 27, 2007

Andorrano:

"God is too busy for chess!"

I like that one! Hope to play against you again at ICC!

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written by Andorrano, July 28, 2007

I will be waiting for you friend(added to my notify list).Since today,my profile(finger notes) is in english.Maybe with some mistakes in traslation(english is my third language,sorry) but I think you can enjoy some laughts reading it.
And you can follow my tips without fear friend because 23 years ago I was rated 2015(actually 2161),and I have been an expert(for american players expert is a player rated from 2000 to 2300,without professional title) most of my life.
Enjoy the fight!It is the best!

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written by Sciurus, July 29, 2007

Andorrano: i am looking forward to it!

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written by Larry Renaud, August 05, 2007

I also play on ChessWorld if you fancy a game look me up .Go by my name Larry Renaud .Sorry only play un rated ,taken in by a snook and lost many points .

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written by Dan, August 08, 2007

I love this puzzle... You see similar positions like this so often and its easy to overlook them. Great Post my friend.

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