Three Puzzles I Nearly Had

Three puzzles from today, three different ways of getting it wrong. Looking back at them together, there's a pattern that ties all three, in each one I found a reasonable idea and stopped looking the moment it seemed to work. The online to OTB switch is still not helping matters either, patterns that would jump straight off a screen at me seem to take a lot longer to appear on a real board. Have a go at each position yourself before revealing what I was thinking.

Puzzle 1

I'm looking at the position and I can see that the bishop on b4 is attacked twice and only defended once. I'm thinking queen takes might force a trade of queens, but I've also got knight takes available. The queen won't recapture because it would just be hanging itself, so that looks like a clean win of a piece. I go with knight takes, since the piece isn't defended enough to survive.

That was the wrong choice. The correct idea was to take with the queen instead, forcing the trade. Taking with the knight kept the queens on the board, and that gave the attack somewhere to go. Taking with the queen would have simplified straight into a winning endgame instead.

When you're already winning material, check whether trading queens locks in the win before reaching for the flashier capture. I went for the more interesting option. Turns out chess doesn't award style points.

Puzzle 2

The only move I can really see is f3, but that just hands the pawn straight to the bishop. I can't see any way of stopping the passed pawn, it looks like it's about to queen and deliver mate. I decide the best I can do is bring my king up and accept losing the pawn. A bold strategy of quietly accepting defeat.

The actual best move was rook d1, threatening mate in one myself. That forces the opposing rook back to a1 to defend, and once it does, I can capture it, still threatening the same mate.

When a position feels lost and defensive, check whether you have a faster attack before assuming you have to defend. I was so busy building a bunker that I didn't notice I was holding a bigger gun the whole time.

Puzzle 3

I see the black knight is hanging, so I go to take it. There's no check available, it just looks like a straightforward win of a piece, so I play knight takes. Free piece. Simple. What could possibly be better than a free piece?

That was incorrect. The correct move was knight to g5, threatening mate. If the knight comes back to defend, I can simply recapture and I'm still threatening the same mate, so the queen is eventually forced to give itself up by taking on g5, and I recapture with my queen, ending up ahead of just grabbing the loose knight.

The move that wins a piece isn't always the best move on the board. Apparently there was a mating net sitting right under my nose and I stepped over it to pick up a spare knight, like walking past a winning lottery ticket to pocket a fiver off the floor.

What connects all three

Three puzzles, three moments where I found something that looked like the answer and stopped reading. Puzzle one, I grabbed with the wrong piece. Puzzle two, I was so busy digging a trench that I missed I had a faster attack of my own. Puzzle three, I saw a free lunch and didn't bother checking the menu for anything better.

Three good ideas, three wrong ones. At least I'm consistent. Notepad's had a busy day.