How Koga decides
- An intermezzo is a forcing move slipped in BEFORE the recapture the opponent is waiting for. Instead of taking back immediately, we play something more urgent first.
- The point: the recapture is still available, so we play the urgent move now, force a reply, and only then take back — having gained something extra in between.
- A capture on some OTHER square was available right now — the move we could have made instead of the in-between move.
- We play a different move first (the intermezzo).
- Later in the forcing line we come back and make that delayed capture, with the very same piece-and-destination that was available before.
- The line must be at least three moves long (in-between move, the forced reply, then the payoff) so the pattern can be confirmed.
- The opponent's previous move must have been a capture — there must be a genuine ongoing exchange to delay. If they only pushed a pawn or developed a piece onto a square we attack, taking it later is just winning a piece, not an intermezzo.
- The payoff must land back on the square the opponent just captured on. If we eventually win material somewhere else entirely, the in-between move did not delay this recapture.
- The recapture must not have been possible before the opponent's move — it is the opponent's capture that created the thing we take back. If we could already have made that capture beforehand, nothing was delayed.
Test positions (the examples that guard against regressions)
A recapture delayed through a forced queen trade
From a Caro-Kann game. Black has just played Nxf4, expecting Bxf4. Instead White plays Qxf7, forking the bishop on f8 and rook on e8. After Nf6, White trades queens with Qxc7+ Kxc7, and only then does Bxf4 finally take the knight on the setup square — four plies after the intermezzo.
Golden puzzles — every real Lichess puzzle Koga is tested against for this tactic (10)
Lichess 06Asm
Lichess 06Asm (rating 1407). Solution: Nxe7+ Kf7 Rxf1+ Kxe7 Bxc5+.
Lichess 01X6J
Lichess 01X6J (rating 1475). Solution: Qe4+ Kg1 Bxf5.
Lichess 0155R
Lichess 0155R (rating 1384). Solution: Rxf1+ Kxf1 Qxf7 Qxf7+ Kxf7.
Lichess 00Htd
Lichess 00Htd (rating 963). Solution: Bxc3+ bxc3 Qxd5.
Lichess 06kDo
Lichess 06kDo (rating 1834). Solution: Rxe5 dxe5 Bxd5.
Lichess 05gDD
Lichess 05gDD (rating 1604). Solution: Rxa2 Qxa2 Qxb4.
Lichess 04XmB
Lichess 04XmB (rating 1769). Solution: Rxh7+ Kxh7 dxe5 d4 exd4.
Lichess 01ddN
Lichess 01ddN (rating 1392). Solution: h5+ Kf5 Rxb4.
Lichess 04tM3
Lichess 04tM3 (rating 1654). Solution: Rxc8+ Rxc8 dxe5.
Lichess 00DII
Lichess 00DII (rating 1920). Solution: Re8+ Kf7 Qxd5+ Rxd5 Rxc8.