the library · reviewed 2026-09-07

Suleymanli – Panesar

Tata Steel Challengers · 2026.01.23 · Elo 2628/2406 · defensive · ★★★

The daily position for Wednesday 2 September 2026. It is still open to solve — the grader reads your whole line, sidelines and evaluation included, before anything here is shown. Cover the solution and solve it first →

Black to move. the model predicts 39% at this level.

The solution

39…♕︎xf2+! (not 39…♖︎xf7? 40.♕︎b8+ ♖︎f8 41.♗︎e6+ ♔︎h8 42.♕︎xf8#) 40.♔︎h1 (if 40.♗︎g2? then 40…♖︎xf7 41.♕︎xa5 g6 −+) 40…♕︎e1+ (not 40…♖︎xf7? 41.♕︎b8+ ♖︎f8 42.♗︎e6+ ♔︎h8 43.♕︎xf8#) 41.♔︎g2 (41.♔︎h2 is as good: 41…♕︎f2+ 42.♔︎h1 ♕︎f3+ =) 41…♕︎d2+ 42.♔︎g1 (42.♔︎f1 is as good: 42…♕︎d3+ 43.♔︎f2 ♕︎d2+ =) 42…♕︎e3+ 43.♔︎g2 ♕︎e2+ =

39…♕︎xf2+ — the natural move
40…♕︎e1+ — hard to find · worth +1
41…♕︎d2+ — almost nobody finds this · worth +1
42…♕︎e3+ — hard to find · worth +1
43…♕︎e2+ — hard to find · worth +1

“hard to find”, “the natural move” and the rest describe how often this move is played by Maia-2, weighted across the 1500/1900/2000 audience the difficulty model is fitted on — a model of human play, not a count of anyone who solved this position.

Members can take this away as a PGN — the diagram, the verified line and their own analysis in one file, for a database, Anki or Chessable.

What happened at the board

Panesar found it · ½-½

the game went on 41.♔︎h2 ♕︎d2+ 42.♔︎g1½-½full game ↗

The field

88% of the 26 committed lines here found the key move — the model predicted 39% at this level.

Notes from the room

M G Dalthorp · 2026-09-03

Another one with the engine being unnecessarily picky among essentially identical lines.

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