an amusing miniature and even more puzzles from Saturday

An amusing miniature from Kenneth:

Amin Abdullah - Kenneth Martin
1. d4 f5
2. h3 Nf6
3. g4 fxg4
4. hxg4 Nxg4
5. Qd3

5...Nf6
6. Rxh7 Rxh7
7. Qg6#

1. Kevin Marin is white and has a fabulous move. I found this immediately in analysis because I once read the book Essential Piece Sacrifices, and this move is a whole chapter.

2. Randy Rivera is white. His opponent captured on e5; how should he recapture?

4. Not quite a tactic, but an instructive position to think about and decide where you would move as white.
(from Carlos Tapia's game)

5. Carlos is black here against Ashanti Murray. What is white's best move? (be careful!!)

answers

1.     1. Nxg7! Kxg7 2. Bh6+ Kxh6 3. Qxf6+ Kh5 4. Bd1+ Qg4 5. Bxg4#! You also have to make sure things are good if black takes the first piece and not the second one: 2...Kg6, but 3. Bxf8 Rxf8 4. d4 is a big problem for black: taking on d4 allows e4-e5+, and retreating the bishop different places loses to a variety of tricks against black's king. I'm sorry that I'm too lazy to go into details, but ask your engine.

2. 1. Nxe5 threatens both Qh5+ and Ng6, with a discovered attack on the Qc7. Black's best is 1...0-0-0, and then he can meet 2. Ng6 with e5 and comes out only down a pawn.

4. 1. f5 is really good, much better than 1. e5, which is what Carlos played. Black can't meet 1. f5 with dxe4, as 2. f6 wins a piece. After 1. f5 exf5 2. exf5 Nxf5 3. Bxf5 gxf5 and now white can take on f5 with the queen, but the knight would love to recapture there even more, so 4. Ng3! is best.

5. Ashanti took on h7, but 1. Nc5 Qc7 2. Nxd7 Qxd7 3. Qxc6 wins a piece. You can't play the combination directly after taking on h7, because the bishop hangs at the end.