Dan,

I don't think Tox will get a queen, because that would block Jack's
rook from covering your own soon-to-be queen. Also, in the event
that I capture Tox, I'm sure he would prefer me not to gain such a
powerful piece. As long as he leaves his pawn where it is, it's
covered by Jack's knight, which could swiftly remove it should it
fall into enemy hands.

The move I was thinking of was capturing Jack's knight, which is
unprotected right now. I think we can win with either that move or
an immediate checkmate. If it boils down to elegance, I prefer to
capture the knight. What do you think?

--Mark



--- In forchessonline@yahoogroups.com, Dan Percival
<dan_percival@y...> wrote:
> Good question, good question. I'm inclined to say "not",
> and instead pull the bishop back to hit Tox's new queen. In
> combination with my own new queen, that should give us a
> bit of breathing room. However, you should take this with a
> grain of salt, since I find that I'm still stuck in the
> mental frame of looking at check situations as in
> two-player chess -- first the checker moves, then the
> checkee, and so on.
>
> Actually, now that I think of it, I'm wondering whether my
> new queen (or the threat thereof) might be enough to keep
> Tox from promoting by itself. If so, then maybe you're
> better off with the checkmate.
>
> I suppose it really comes down to whether you think that
> we'll be able to get you another unforced move before the
> queen-castle-knight team down in your corner mates you.
>
> Sorry to be so vague.
>
> Dan