Daily Chess Puzzle: Out of the Frying Pan Into the Mating Net
I’ve seen a lot of daily puzzles come and go on Chess.com, but this one really took me by surprise. See if you can solve it!
At first glance, White seems to have the upper hand. Upon further inspection, I discovered that Black has a slight point advantage.
White is to move. My first thought was to place the King in check with my rook and take the Queen. But Black could simply take my rook with his bishop and my Queen with his rook on the subsequent move. So, SCRATCH THAT!
Knowing these puzzles the way I do, much of the time you want to place the opponent’s king in check… but not always.
Sometimes it’s a simple matter of gaining material. But I wanted to pursue the check-check theory where you continually place your opponent’s King in check.
So I decided to place the King in check with my Queen, knowing it would simply be a Queen exchange. So, what to do now? Is that the right move? Should I pursue the check-check theory? Or should I look for a way to gain a point advantage?
I was perplexed. Unsure of how to proceed, yet, I proceeded nonetheless. I didn’t make it to the end without making mistakes. But once I solved it, I was amazed at the brilliance of the puzzle.
I’m not that good of a chess player. So when I even get close to solving a puzzle of this caliber, I feel quite pleased with myself. And I got pretty close with this one… but couldn’t quite crack the code.
Give it a try and see how you do.
Drop a comment below to let me know if you solved it without making a mistake. Or just let me know if you enjoyed the puzzle.
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