In this game, you had to find the best continuation in a short master game.
Congratulations!
Thank you to everyone who sent in their answers. You received at least 1 point for sending in a solution. If you chose a good move you received two points. If you guessed the best continuation, you received 3 points. This week, the following players received 2 or more points for their solutions:
Natalie Weaver (3)
Hari Chowdhury (3)
This Week’s Solution
In this game, you had to find the best continuation for black after the following moves:
- d4, Nf6
- c4, e5
- dxe5, Ne4
- a3, d6
- exd6, Bxd6
- g3?
The solution that we were looking for:
Nxf2 is the winning move in this position. From f2 the knight forks the Queen and the Rook. The only way that white can escape from the fork is by capturing the knight with Kxf2, but black can follow up with Bxg3+, another cunning sacrifice that prevents the king moving back to his original square to guard the queen. When the bishop checked, the d file was opened – a discovery with check wins the white queen!
It looks like the King shouldn’t take the knight after all, and must lose the exchange (chess lingo for losing a rook for a minor piece). In this game, white chose to resign!
What To Do Next
Tomorrow you will be able find next week’s puzzle on our blog. The puzzler with the highest score at the end of the block will win a free chess lesson with the teacher of their choice and a solver badge and spot/two solver spots. Our runners up will receive a solver badge or a solver spot if they already have a badge. Consistently sending in your results is key to winning so make sure you subscribe below to get notified about the checkmate puzzles the moment they are published.
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