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Fellow NESA Chess Problem Solvers, It’s been a long while, so let’s get everyone back in the chess problem-solving gig. Tspaper’s game turned out to be a pretty tough challenge, so I’m proud of BSAeagle60 for nailing the solution so quickly and thereby earning the KUDOS. The answer is that both players messed up. Black should just complete his development with 21. … Nd7instead of wasting additional time with 21. … b5?. In turn, however, White missed a really great shot to punish Black. Instead of responding insipidly with 22. axb5?, he can hit Black hard with 22. Ne4! The point is that White can ignore the attack on one N because he threatens, with the other N, to take the R with CHECK. For Chess Lesson Problem #35, I just played this really awesome 81-move game in Live Chess, and all phases of the game were thrilling. In this position, Black played 54. … Bd3, and White responded 55. Kd4. Evaluate Black’s move in view of this White response. Was it the right move, or was there something better? Good luck! Let’s get some new problem solvers. Xenophon98

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Fellow NESA Memorial Puzzle solvers, Sorry it’s been a while since the last puzzle; I’ve been in the trenches for a while dealing with real life outside of the four corners of chess.com. To answer Hetricon’s puzzle, he and I have played quite a few games recently, and although I usually keep him at bay, in this game he punished me as I deserved for very careless play. Several players found the answer that escaped this numbskull during the game. Although 20. Bxf8? may still win, the much clearer win comes from 20. Be7!Because White is attacking the Q now as well as the R, Black has to slink his Q over with … Qe8, and White can just bail out with 21. Rxb6 Qxe7 and rely on his armada of P’s to win. In the actual game White allowed Black too much activity with 20. Bxf8? Bxf8 21. Rxb6 Qxb6+. Part of the winning process that one must master in chess is the ability to SHUT A LOSING OPPONENT DOWN. I did not do that here. My butt got kicked. I’m happy about it because I deserved it. It’s fun getting my butt kicked by a lower-rated player, as it humiliates and embarrasses me (feelings I dearly love), arouses my feelings of vengeance, and inspires me to play better. KUDOS go to BSAeagle60 and dirk-1966for coming up with the solution. We appreciate that zorawar13 got in a try as well. Chess Lesson Problem #34 is a marvelous upset win from tspaper, and I thank him for the submission. In this game you are asked to evaluate two moves: a. Black’s next move … b5. Was that the best move here? b. White’s reply axb5. Was that the best reply? If not, what should White have played instead? Thanks, tspaper, and good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial Puzzle Solvers, I’m happy that Problem #32 was so easy! Hetricon, BSAeagle60, my pal Dirk, and zorawar13 all got KUDOS. The answers are that 40. Qxd4?? was a blunder because of the straightforward 40. … Qg3+!41. Kh1 Rxh3+!42. gxh3 Rxh3+ 43. Rh2 Qxh2#. Hashtag game ends. Instead White can easily target Black’s Q with 40. Rc5! targeting Black’s Q and keeping White’s Q guarding g3. Its_only_me found the line punishing White’s blunder and wrapped the game up. Problem #33 is a game I lost against Hetricon, who painfully kicked my butt after I missed an opportunity in this position, which he donated as a puzzle. The question is: after 19. … Bc8 (just played), White erred with the simplistic 20. Bxf8? What much more effective move should White have played instead, and why? Thanks, Hetricon, and good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Chess Lesson solvers, A new winner of KUDOS to be crowned with Problem #31! He found right away what I did not. The answer is that, regrettably, I did not find a crushing tactical breakthrough in this position. Instead of the pedestrian 20. exf5?, White wins immediately with 20. Rxh7+!! After 20. … Kxh7 21. Rh1+ Kg6 the really hard move to find is 22. Qg1+!Qg5 23. Qxg5#. Hashtag Black king dies. The new guy on the block is Daviderer from Chess Warriors of Light. Congratulations, David; you are the new owner of the KUDOS, man! Side Kudos also go to our ever persistent BSAeagle60. Chess Lesson #32 was submitted by my good pal its_only_me, who came up with a great finish in a Live game. In the puzzle there are two questions. (a) The actual move 40. Qxd4?? was an immediately losing blunder. Why? (b) What should White have played instead? Thanks to its_only_me for the puzzle. Good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial problem solvers, It’s been a while! BSAeagle solved Problem #30 – after LOTS of struggle (hehe) – early on. Because no one else has solved this puzzle since then and everyone seems baffled into silence, BSAeagle gets the SOLE KUDOS. Congrats! 27. … Qc6??is in fact a crass blunder. The problem is that Black, in targeting the R on e8 (so that after, for instance, 28. Bg5?? Qxe8 leading to a better opposite-color B endgame for Black), forgets that he needs to watch out for R checks on e7. White quickly bashes through with 28. R1e7+!(and not28. R8e7+?, allowing the K to escape to the bank rank) , forcing Black’s K into the center of the board. After 28. … Kf6 29. h4! (threatening 30. Bg5+) g5 30. Bxg5+ or 30. hxg5+, Black’s K is wide open and in serious trouble. Therefore the correct answer to (2) is (b). Since in (1) Black cannot safely move his Q to c6, he should consider what his Q can do while still on c5. In fact, the Q supports the advance 27. … g5 that gives Black’s K an escape square on g6. So that’s the answer to (1). Thanks again to its_only_me for the problem submissions. Problem #31 goes back to one of my own games. You are asked here to evaluate the move 20. exf5, my continuation against 19. … f5. Was this the best move, or was there something better? Good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial puzzle solvers, In Puzzle #29 you hopefully realized that White has to prevent Black’s threatened 27. … exd3. Therefore, the actual played move 27. Rfb1?is a mistake because Black gets White with 27. … exd3 28. Qxd3 Qg4 and White cannot defend against 29. … Re2+ because both b2 and e1 are off limits to White’s R’s. White tried to counterstrike with 29. Rxb7, but after 29. … Re2+ 30. Kf1 Rxh2 31. Rb8 Qh3+ 32. Ke1 Qg2 33. Rxf8+ Bxf8 White ran out of ammunition and had to resign. The point of this puzzle, therefore, was not to overlook this very damaging threat that would paralyze the other side with a critical attack on the Q. Note how White’s Q got DEFLECTED from guarding g4. Correct, to eliminate the threat of … exd3, was simply 27. dxe4. Therefore, (a) is the correct answer. (Answer (b), by the way, 27. Rd1, may be an improvement over 27. Rfb1? because White can at least guard against 28. … Re2+ with 28. Rd2. However, it’s still better not to allow Black this formidable option in the first place.) This puzzle appeared to stump everyone, and I am unfortunately unable to offer any KUDOS. Better luck next puzzle. Chess Lesson Puzzle #30 is the other submission by its_only_me in which he fared quite a bit better than last time. The puzzle is in two parts, one of which is multiple choice: (1) Evaluate Black’s move just played, 27. … Qc6 (from c5). Was it the correct move or a blunder? Explain why. If a blunder, what should Black instead have played? (2) After 27. … Qc6, should White play (a) 28. R8e7+, (b) R1e7+, (c) R8e4, (d) something else? Thanks again to its_only_me for these puzzle submissions. Good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial Puzzle Solvers, Aw, shucks, we were STUMPED by that last problem! The correct answer to the last problem was (c) 56. ... Bc5!After White plays 57. Ne6 Black goes after White's g-P with Bf2 while White goes after Black's. The difficulty is that White's N is now too far away to stop Black's a-P which can start running soon after. So let's try again with another multiple-choice. Puzzle #29 is the first of two puzzles kindly submitted by my good puzzle-solving buddy its_only_me. This one will feature a multiple-choice option: should White play (a) dxe4, (b) Rd1, (c) Rfb1, (d) something else? Explain your choice. Good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial Puzzle Solvers, For once we had an easy puzzle! Too bad the prior devotee to easy puzzles isn’t around to appreciate this one. In Puzzle #27, what Black failed to prevent – and what both players missed on the previous move – was the straightforward 34. Ne4!White strikes simultaneously at the R on d6 and the forking square f6. Black unfortunately walked into the fork with 34. … Rxd5? 35. Nf6+ +/-, but withdrawing with 34. … Rd8 is hardly better because White can push his passed P’s with 35. d6 followed by e7. Black fought on for a while longer, but the game was hopeless. BSAeagle, SonOfThunder2, and dirk-1966 got this one fast and all deserve KUDOS. We will use a multiple choice format for Puzzle #28. The correct move for Black is either: (a) … Kb4; (b) … g5; (c) … Bc5; (d) something else. Good luck solving it! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial Puzzle solvers, Although the craver of KUDOS is regrettably no longer in our puzzle-solving party, I’ll still bestow KUDOS as an enduring legacy. Hopefully in the last puzzle you were able to see that Black had a mating net pointed at g2 that would allow him to ignore the threat against h7. The cleanest way to exploit that is 21. … Ne3!(21. … Nf4 is also possible except that White has the countershot 22. Rxf4!?) White can squeeze out of trouble with 22. Kh1 Rxg2 23. Qxh7+ Kf8 24. Qxh5, but after 24. … Nxf1 25. Kxg2 (25. Qh8+? Ke7 26. Qxa8?? Qxh3#) Ne3+ Black’s extra piece should triumph. Black unfortunately didn’t exploit this opportunity and played the much meeker 21. … Nf6?! instead, but still went on to win a different way. Top KUDOS go to my Dutch friend dirk-1966 for getting this puzzle very quickly, and BSAeagle (who suggested the alternate 21. … Nf4) shares in the KUDOS as well. In Puzzle #27, I DID get the right move, but a move later than I should have. Luckily Black didn’t see what was coming even the second time around, so I cashed in. Black has just played the mistaken 31. … Re7? What does White do to punish it? Good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial puzzle solvers, Happy New Year! We come to the first puzzle of 2017. For Problem #25, the key is to understand Black’s motive for playing 35. … Nb4?? In itself the move was not a bad idea because it was aiming to get the Black N to d3. But it failed because White responded with 36. Ne6+!and unfortunately for Black he has no way to keep guard on his stranded Knight. After 36. … Kd5 37. Kxb4 Kxe6 38. Kb5 White has a decisive advantage in getting his K up to the Black P’s before Black can adequately defend. This answers (a). Now that you know Black was aiming for d3 with his N, the correct move sequence should be clear. Black needs to go the other way with his N with 35. … Nf6!Not only does this avoid putting the N in harm’s way on b4, but it makes two threats: (1) … 36. … Ng4 forking the f- and h- Pawns; (2) 36. … Nd7 aiming for e5 and finally d3, where Black should maintain an edge. This answers (b). BSAeaglewas right on the money with both answers, and gets the well-deserved Kudos. Puzzle #26, our first puzzle in 2017 features a missed opportunity for Black. He played the overcautious 21. … Nf6? and won in another eight moves after further inaccuracies by White. But he had a much more forthright way to punish White without being distracted by White’s threats. What was it? Happy solving! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial problem solvers, It’s been a while since I posted a puzzle through the holidays, but let’s get one final puzzle in within 2016 before we ring in 2017. Chess Lesson #24 proved quite a struggle. The key to navigating it was to discover that the answer to the first question was really dependent on the answer to the second. After Black blunders with 28. … dxe4??, White correctly nails Black with 29. d5!and Black has no choice but to drop a piece with 29. … Bxf6 30. dxc6 Bxc3 31. Bxc3. In the actual game, Black blundered again with 29. … exd5??, failing to notice 30. Qxg7#. Now that you know that the correct answer to (b) is that White played the correct move, can you see how that solves (a)? Since White has the Q & B battery pointed down the long diagonal, Black’s correct move – albeit a tricky one to see – is to wipe out the battery with 28. … Nxb2!No more White B, no more mate threat. ‘Nuff said. Although he had to work long and hard to get the answer, Karnakatz in Namaste finally got it and accordingly deserves the Kudos. Congratulations, Karnakatz! Chess Lesson #25, final one in 2016. In the puzzle position (with Black to move), Black chosen move, 35. … Nb4??, was a disastrous blunder in a position where he had a slight edge. The problem is in two parts: (a) Explain why Black’s move is bad. (b) Tell what Black should have played instead. There’s a two-move sequence you have to track. Here’s a hint – where does Black’s N want to end up? (You should think why Black might have played 35. … Nb4??) Happy New Year! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial Problem solvers, My fellow Admin nailed it this time. Another victory for NESA Memorial! Although Black has a number of possible discovered checks, you can see that none of them are immediately all that effective. However, if the N on f6 were magically and illegally vaporized, voilà: Black wins White’s Q immediately with … Bh4+. So how can we get the N out of the way of the B in a way that White can’t ignore? Put one plus one plus one together and come up with three: 9. … Ng4!!Even my Advanced class didn’t get this one. White is sunk since he can’t take the N without falling into 10. … Bh4. In the actual game White despairingly tried 10. Qc2, but Black was relentless: 10. … Bh4+ 11. Kd1 Nf2+ 12. Kd2 Bg5+ 13. f4 Bxf4#!Even though I love Queens, I like Kings a lot better. (Yes, the statement is subliminally Freudian.) Other moves don’t do any better: for instance, 11. Kd2 Qg4+ 13. Kd1 (13. Kd3 Bf5#) Nf2+ and White ends up giving up his Q anyway. My great Dutch friend dirk-1966got this one really fast and gets the kudos. Great job! Its_only_me in Elke Rehder also gets kudos for, once again, a careful and thorough explanation of the principles involved. Chess Lesson #24 demonstrates the concept of how multiple threats can choke a player even when he has a good response to the strongest one. In this game White has just played the questionable 28. e4?! (the computer gives 28. Rb1) and Black has just blundered with 28. … dxe4??. The problem, now, is in two parts: (a) What should Black have played instead? (b) Evaluate White’s response 29. d5 to the blunder 28. … dxe4?? Is this the best continuation, or did White have something better? Good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow Puzzle Solvers, We had an amazingly fast solution of the problem proposed within minutes of my posting it, and that person gets the KUDOS. One other puzzle solver also gets KUDOS for coming up with the solution soon after. 54. h5?? is manifestly a losing blunder. Black simply punctures White with 54. … Rxe3+!and White can just resign since after 55. Kxe3 Re1+ or 55. fxe3 Rf1+ Black uses the thematic R check to promote the a-P. Simplest for White instead is 54. Kg2 on the principle that the White K on g2 or h2 cannot be checked advantageously by the Black R on a1 to promote a P on a2. 54. Ke2 and 54. Ke4 are also suitable alternatives. KUDOSto my man King_Zakadion who blasted this problem practically immediately. Its_only_me in another Group also gets Kudos for his excellent full explanation of the principle behind the solution. Chess Lesson Problem #23 was a pleasingly quick victory against a challenging opponent for me, despite his lower rating. In this problem, there are obvious discovered checks for Black. Is he ready to play one at once, or does he have to set up the winning one first? Happy solving! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial Puzzle Solvers, Only one puzzle solver got KUDOS this time, and he solved it as a Member of another Group. In the actual game of Problem #21, I correctly played 16. Be4!The point here is that I can’t immediately play 16. g4? trying to trap the Black N because this leaves the N on f3 hanging to Black’s b7-B. So 16. Be4! cuts off the B’s access to f3 and now really threatens g4 (as well as Bxb7 - this is important). Black’s best response is simply 16. … Bxe417. Nxe4 Qe8 putting pressure on the White e-P. Instead, however, Black erred with 16. … Rb8? failing to spot the threat against the N. Unfortunately, I forgot it myself and played the inaccurate 17. Rxb7? Simply 17. g4 now corrals the pony. And why is 16. Be4! the right move instead of 16. Ne4? The N on e4 does block access to f3, but it does not threaten the B on b7. The B on e4, on the other hand, threatens its adversary on b7, so that Black is effectively dealing with two threats at once. That’s why only 16. … Bxe4 saves him by getting him out of both. To my credit, after a silly back-and-forth of three more move pairs in which neither side did something about g4, on my 20th move I finally got in 20. g4 and won not only that N but a host of other materials. I lucked out and won. KUDOS goes to BSAeagle for being the ONLY puzzle solver to get this right. Congratulations, BSAeagle! Chess Lesson Problem #22 is another evaluation position in which I was playing Black and it is now Black’s move. White’s last move was 54. h5. Is this correct, or a mistake? If a mistake, what should White have played instead? Good luck, solvers! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial Puzzle Solvers, That last one should not have been too hard. I’m happy to report that we have a new winner tonight. First, the move I played, 34. Ke3?!, isn’t bad in the sense that Black is forced to come forward with 34. … Kf5. After 35. g4+ Black has the unpleasant choice between either 35. … Ke5 after which 36. Bc3+ forces B’s off the board, or 35 … Ke6 surrendering the e-P. White will win in due time based on the strength of the passed d-P. However, there was a much more forthright continuation that computer analysis showed me. Simply 34. Ba5!forces immediate resignation because Black has no choice but to lose his B to stop promotion of the d-P. This is why 33. … Bf6?? was such a bad blunder: Black vacated not only the promotion square, but the diagonal leading up to it. And even though White’s P is only on 6, Black is amazingly completely cut off from d8. So herein is the K.O. This problem illustrates the well-known maxim “When you have a good move, look for a better one.” E1Chu2sov is the new puzzle solver from NESA Memorial who gets top kudos for nailing the problem almost immediately; congratulations E1Chu2sov! Kudos also to BSAeagle, Karnakatz, and Hetricon who all arrived at the solution. Problem #21 features a game in which I played the right move in the featured position, but not the right follow-up. The last moves played were 15. e5 c5. What is the correct move for White, and what is the correct reply by Black? In the actual game, Black erred and then White erred in response. Good luck! I hope everyone had a good holiday. Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial Chess Puzzle Solvers, By now anyone who read the Eddie Murphy quote at the end of my puzzle description should have known that there was a trick involved in this puzzle. The point here is that this was a rare case when the objectively best move was NOT the right move to play. The first thing to recognize is that Black has played a really awful opening in just a few moves. Objectively 9. Bb5+, as a few puzzle solvers pointed out, is a perfectly good refutation of the opening, as after 9. … Bd7 a sample line is 10. Bxd7+ Kxd7 (… Qxd7 is no better) 11. Ne5+ Kc8 12. Nxf7. In all lines White either mates or wins abundant material. Anyone playing this would win just fine. However, instead I got the quickest win I’ve had on chess.com with the blow 9. Ne5!!The reason this is the right move is its SHOCKvalue. Black could have taken my Queen and come out with a relatively small material minus after 10. Bb5+ Qd7. But the value of the move, played against an evidently diffident opponent, was that Black would have had to call my bluff to realize that taking my Queen was OK if not great long-term. He didn’t. Instead he collapsed with 9. … Bd7??, and after 10. Nxd7 Kxd7 (10. … Qxd7?? 11. Bb5 +/-) 11. Qa4+ Black just resigned. After 11. … Bxa6 12. Qc6+ Kb8 13. Bf4+ is the K.O. This puzzle illustrates the same point that the recent “surprise” victory of Trump over Clinton showed with drastic effect: that a more objectively dubious move with forceful “punch” can get more efficacious results than a run-of-the-mill “ground game” over an unprepared opponent. The power of emotional blast, although risky and hard to predict in its outcome, is one never to discount in chess. Congratulations, therefore, to Hetricon, who gets the SOLE KUDOSfor very easily and quickly seeing the beauty of 9. Ne5!! Full credit goes to King_Zakadion, Karnakatz, BSAeagle, and its_only_me for all correctly pointing out the objective superiority of 9. Bb5+. We now proceed to the Twentieth Chess Lesson. In this one, Black has blundered with 33. … Bf6?? Your object is to evaluate the response 34. Ke3, which was played in the game. Is it the most effective move, or is it an inaccuracy? If the latter, what should have been played instead? Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Memorial Solvers, Wow, that was fast! Everyone got right on top of Problem #18 this time. Several moves are possible and probably all win eventually. The most direct, however, is 33. Bh7 forcing 33. … g5. Black’s K-side P’s are now fatally weakened all on dark squares, and with his K tied down to defense of his Q-side P’s, Black is paralyzed. White fixes Black’s K-side P’s with 34. g4! and will follow up with e4 and a4 to fix Black’s position further. Finally White recentralizes his B onto d5 to cut Black’s K off from b7. That secures the TKO. The lesson of this puzzle is just one word: patience. Even with an overwhelming material advantage, it’s still important to reduce the opponent’s options to an absolute minimum slowly and carefully. White wanted to make sure Black could not whip up any counterplay with his K-side P majority if it was still mobile. That’s why White chose this course of action. I have lots of kudos to give out. The winner of the top kudos is Hetricon who nailed this problem right away. 2nd-tier kudos go to karnakatz, BSAeagle, and its_only_me for also arriving at the correct solution. Finally, full credit goes to King_Zakadion for proposing the alternate first move 33. a4, which is also completely consistent with the theme of tying down the opponent. We move to Problem #19 in record time. In this one Black got very severely punished for a REALLY bad opening that netted White an 11-move victory. You simply have to find the right move for White. To those of you who want the solution to be REALLY simple, I promise you that this one is REALLY REALLY simple. To quote Eddie Murphy at the very end of Beverly Hills Cop, “Trust me.” Good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow NESA Club solvers, Trumped! OK, got that out of my system. Now that this (expletive) election is finally over, let’s get back to problem-solving. Lots of kudos to my man King_Zakadion and my other man karnakatz for cracking the last puzzle. White simply plays 18. dxe5 and after Black’s best response 18. … Nxe5, White gets his B out aggressively with 19. Bf4!By developing his B to attack Black’s unguarded N in the center, White can start fighting back against Black’s positional edge. Instead, with 18. dxc5?! Bxc5, White kept himself imprisoned in his poor position and actually activated BLACK’s Bishop. No good. On to the Eighteenth Chess Lesson Problem. Here White has an advantage of a piece, but the question is, what can he do to ensure Black doesn’t get awkward counterplay with his K-side P majority? The last moves played were 32. Bg8 h6. White’s next move is fairly obvious, but what does he play after THAT? Good luck! Xenophon98

Fellow Chess Problem solvers, That last puzzle was a tricky one. With best play the game is likely drawn after either 43. … hxg4 or 43. … Nxg4, but the point of the problem was to recognize that … Nxg4 does a better job of retaining winning chances for Black. After 43. … hxg4?! White uncorks the surprising 44. Bxg4+! The point is that after 44. … Nxg4 45. Nxe5!Ncxe5 White secures an easy two Knights draw since, although the P is behind the “Trotsky” line for checkmating, White’s K is too active for Black to be able to force it into the needed corner in time. Problem #17 was submitted by its_only_me of Elke Rehder. In this one White has a passive position, but if he responds correctly, as the player didn’t, he can start to get his pieces more active. Black’s last move was 17. … dxc5 capturing a P. What should White do? Good luck! Xenophon98