Puzzle #84: Black to Play; Black to Tinue

Good evening, Takkers!

As stated last week, I'm going to take a few weeks and feature easier puzzles for our newer players. But, I will also try to keep something for the more experienced puzzle solvers. This will probably come in the form of an additional step or related puzzle. I'm not sure exactly how easy to make these, as I don't want to insult or bore anyone. On the other hand, I don't want to alienate anyone by making the puzzles impossible. So, tonight, I will post a moderately difficult puzzle. I will make it a bit harder by not posting the number of turns until Tinue. But, I will post this information and a couple other hints on Reddit for less experienced or stumped players to view.

If you are new to these puzzles, I try my best to post one every Saturday night (EST). They are usually one of the following types: Tinue (game ending via forced road), Tinue Avoidance (is there a way out?), Gaelet (game ending via flat count), and Best Move (what would you do, and why?).

The type featured tonight is a Tinue puzzle. Tinue is defined as a board state in which no matter what the opposing player does during their turn (White, in this instance), a road win will be awarded to the other player (Black) on their next turn. If you are familiar with Chess, Tinue is very similar to Checkmate.

The best way to solve these puzzles is to find a move that forces your opponent into doing something that benefits you. Then, you use that forced move to force another move, until you have won. Sometimes there are more ways than 1 to go about this. While I love seeing the different variations, usually the shortest path to a forced win is considered best.

Please form your answer with PTN or a link to your solution via ptn.ninja. Also, be sure to use the spoiler tag so as not to ruin it for later puzzle solvers.

The new Reddit spoiler tag is shown below:

>!spoiler!<

Ex:  >!35. a3> 3b2+!<

Thank you and enjoy!!

P.S. If you have a puzzle you want me to post, feel free to send it my way. If you would like to post it yourself but don't know how, I can also help with that. Any other questions or comments are welcome, too.

Puzzle #83: White to Play; White to Tinue

Hello, Takkers!

I'm going to do a series of easier puzzles over the next few weeks. I'm doing this for a few different reasons. Firstly, I want to make sure I include all the newer players in these puzzles. Also, I have USTA deadlines fast approaching and a tournament starting in two weeks. Lastly, my weekends are booked for the next couple months. So, two birds and all that :) 

So....Here's a fun Tinue from a game I played on the road this week.

For the purpose of this puzzle, Tinue is defined as a board state in which no matter what the opposing player does during their turn (Black, in this instance), a road win will be awarded to the other player (White) on their next turn. If you are familiar with Chess, Tinue is very similar to Checkmate.

Please form your answer with PTN or a link to your solution via ptn.ninja. Also, be sure to use the spoiler tag so as not to ruin it for later puzzle solvers.

I believe all responses by Black are singular and forced. If the response is not singular and forced, then any response results in the same following move by White or the defensive moves by Black have ready responses by White and those defense/offense pairs are interchangeable in regards to order. Of course, I could have made a mistake...in that case, let me know so I can fix it or, at least, apologize.

Please use the spoiler tag when posting your answers so as not to ruin the puzzle for future solvers. The new Reddit spoiler tag is shown below:

>!spoiler!<

Ex:  >!35. a3> 3b2+!<

Thank you and enjoy!!

P.S. If you have a puzzle you want me to post, feel free to send them my way. If you would like to post it yourself but don't know how, I can also help with that.

Puzzle # 82: Black to Play; Black to Tinue

Good evening, all!

This week's puzzle is not a game I played, but one I happened to catch on Playtak.com.

Black has managed to gain the upper hand and is closing in on Tinue. Tinue board state should be reached in 3 moves; meaning the actual win comes in 5 moves.

For the purpose of this puzzle, Tinue is defined as a board state in which no matter what the opposing player does during their turn (White, in this instance), a road win will be awarded to the other player (Black) on their next turn. If you are familiar with Chess, Tinue is very similar to Checkmate.

I believe all responses by White are singular and forced. If not, then whatever move White makes does not affect the next move by Black. If I messed up, please let me know so I can correct it or apologize.

Please form your answer with PTN or a link to your solution via ptn.ninja. Also, be sure to use the spoiler tag so as not to ruin it for later puzzle solvers.

UPDATE:  The Reddit site has updated and the newer version does not recognize the older spoiler tag - " [spoiler text](/spoiler) ". The new version has it's own spoiler tag " >! spoiler text !< ". Unfortunately, the new spoiler tag does not work on the old Reddit. So, for the time being, since we have community members using both new and old Reddit, both tags need to be used. I found a way to nest these spoiler tags:

>! [spoiler text](/spoiler) !<

Ex:  >!<

I know it's a bit of a pain, but eventually, we should be able to switch over to the new tag only.

Enjoy!