Hi Chris, Yes, you need to look at every check or capture. These puzzle designers like Queen sacrifices as they are very flashy! You may see one once in a while in a real game though, the trick is to maneuver your opponent into a similar position. Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: Chris C. To: blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 12:59 PM Subject: [blind-chess] Re: Chris, Re: Spoiler alert! Problem WAC006 Thanks Richard for the comments and reminder. I knew with the black rook on g8 that moving whites rook to h7 would be checkmate, but for some reason I put Rxa7 as my move #2. This is the first puzzle in a few where you are not sacrificing a major piece as your best move. There has been a lot of puzzles where you sacrifice your queen or other major piece as your next best move. I have found this interesting because in most cases, most people do not look for moves like that in playing a game. It has taught me that sometimes you have to look at all possibilities and not exclude using certain pieces. Chris ----- Original Message ----- From: R Dinger To: blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 3:15 PM Subject: [blind-chess] Chris, Re: Spoiler alert! Problem WAC006 Correct, but a few comments below. ----- Original Message ----- First of all, white only has one piece that he can move. His king can not move because he would be in check by blacks rook on g5 or his king on h8. # not quite, the White King could always take the Black rook, but the White Rook is being threatened too! So whites rook on b6 is the only piece that can be moved. My first thought is to move Rb8+, but instead I would do this: 1. Rb7 # correct! This does several things: 1. Threatens the black pawn to be taken 2. Makes black move his rook because it is now under threat by whites king 3. Limits blacks move to only one move, Rg8. If black does not move to g8, then the game is basically over. # it is over anyway! So here is how it could look: If black does not move to his limited g8: 1. Rb7 Rf5 2. Rb8+ Rf8 3. Rxf8# Or if he does move to g8: 1. Rb7 Rg8 2. Rxa7 # 2. Rh7# is quicker! Capturing this pawn on a7 is very important for white. Chris ----- Original Message ----- From: R Dinger To: chess Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 11:32 AM Subject: [blind-chess] Problem WAC006 Good Morning Puzzlers, This problem is from Mario Lang's puzzle web page at http://delysid.org:80/chess/epd.cgi and is reported to be from Fred Reinfield's book "Win At Chess" 1958. Problem WAC006 White to move FEN Problem Setup: 7k/ p7/ 1R5K/ 6r1/ 6p1/ 6P1/ 8/ 8 w - - 0 1 Short Algebraic Problem Setup: White: Kh6, Rb6, Pg3 Black: Kh8, Rg5, Pa7, Pg4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.829 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2931 - Release Date: 06/11/10 02:35:00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.829 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2931 - Release Date: 06/11/10 02:35:00