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June 2020 Chess Puzzle Answer Key

Puzzle 1: 2020 Clutch Chess

White: Hikaru Nakamura         Black: Wesley So

White to move

 

Answer: 1. Nxe6! (and Wesley resigned here) , fxe6; 2. Rxe6, Rf8; 3. Rf6+, Kh8; 4. Rxf8+, Bxf8; 5. Bf6+, Bg7; 6. Rd8++ is a nice sample line of how lost blacks position

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Puzzle 2: 2020 Clutch Chess

White: Leinier Dominguez     Black: Fabiano Caruana

Black to move

 

Answer: 1. ..., Be6+; 2. Qf5+, Bxf5+; 3. Kh4, Rg2; 4. Bc5+, Kf7; 5. c3, Bg3++ (Rh2++ works as well)

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Puzzles 3: Buenos Aires 1970

White: Robert James Fischer       Black: Oscar Panno

White to move, how can you bring all your pieces into the attack?

 

Answer: Be4! (other moves such as hxg6 and Nxh7 are also strong but Be4 really is a step above the others - Fischer uses all his pieces in the attack!)

28. Be4, Qe7; 29. Nxh7, Nxh7; 30 . hxg6, fxg6; 31. Bxg6, Ng5; 32. Nh5, Nf3+; 33. Kg2, Nh4+; 34. Kg3, Nxg6; 35. Nf6+, Kf7; 36. Qh7+

if 28. Be4, dxe4; 29. N3xe4, Nd6; 30. hxg6, hxg6; 31. Nf6+ (Nxd6 is technically even stronger but 31. Nf6 seems a very practical way to convert), Qxf6; 32. exf6

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Puzzle 4: 1999

White: Iwona Kubicka        Black: Jolanta Zawadzka

Black to move

 

Answer: 1. ..., Rxh4; 2. gxf4, Qg4; 3. f3, Qxg2++