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The 1000-day course

Day 766: Save the piece

Target rating: 1633

Lesson of the day

Saving the piece: one of your pieces is attacked, and the job is not to lose it for nothing. There are several tools: retreat with tempo, defend it, block the attack, or create a bigger counter-threat. Before retreating automatically, look for a retreat that attacks something — you save the piece and gain time in one move. The typical mistake is panicking onto the first available square, where the piece gets trapped again.

Warm-up

1. Mate in 3: rook to d6Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
2. Mate in 3: queen to b7Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
3. Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g6 (b1·6)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
4. Mate in 3: queen to g4 (a4)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
5. Mate in 3: queen to f5 (g4)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
6. Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g5 (h4·2)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
7. Mate in 3: pawn to f6 (e5)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
8. Mate in 3: knight to g6Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
9. Mate in 3: queen to d6 (d2)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
10. Mate in 3: queen to c6 (d7)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation

Core set

11. Fork: queen to c7Analysis
h1g2f3e4d5c6b7a8
Black to move — find the best continuation
12. Rescue the rook to f1Analysis
h1g2f3e4d5c6b7a8
Black to move — find the best continuation
13. Rescue the queen to f6Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
14. Rescue the queen to c2Analysis
h1g2f3e4d5c6b7a8
Black to move — find the best continuation
15. Rescue the pawn to h5Analysis
h1g2f3e4d5c6b7a8
Black to move — find the best continuation
16. Winning blow: queen to c6 (b5·10)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
17. Winning blow: queen to d7 (d3·6)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
18. Winning blow: queen to f7 (f5·5)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
19. Winning blow: knight to c6 (d4·17)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
20. Winning blow: rook to f8 (f6·4)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
21. Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f6 (h5·8)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
22. Winning blow: knight to c6 (d4·18)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
23. Winning blow: knight to e5 (g6·2)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
24. Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d5 (d3·3)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
25. Winning blow: knight to c6 (b4·13)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation

Challenge

26. Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b2 (c4)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
27. Winning blow: queen to d3 (h3·2)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
28. Win the hanging king on h7 (g8)Analysis
h1g2f3e4d5c6b7a8
Black to move — find the best continuation

Review

29. Mate in 3: queen to d6 (c5)Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation
30. Mate in 3: knight to e3Analysis
a8b7c6d5e4f3g2h1
White to move — find the best continuation

Day complete — every puzzle solved. See you tomorrow!

Day 767 →