Today's Daily Puzzle 9/18/20: You Have A Queen But You're In Zugzwang?!
As a quick reminder, Zugzwang is when it's your turn to move but you really wish it wasn't. That is, the current position you have is better than any future position where you move a piece. Usually we're introduced to zugzwang with endgame-type positions where there's very little material like the one below:
And of course, it makes sense that zugzwang most often occurs when you have very few pieces, typically pawns and maybe a minor piece because as you have more pieces you have more move options and thus the chances of zugzwang are much lower. That's what makes today's puzzle very instructive. Black has a queen, but white can put black in zugzwang, despite black's queen still having many possible moves!
The critical move here was Kg7! Not only is this move amazing because it enforces the theme of the puzzle but because it's so unnatural to consider king moves on the opposite side of the board where the action is. Always be on the lookout, particularly in endgames for how you can put your opponent in zugzwang, even if they have a queen!
How did you do today? Did you find the amazing Kg2 move? Comment below!
Yesterday's Daily Puzzle
As always, see below a quick analysis of yesterday's daily puzzle!
Nick
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