user28465: I came across this puzzle and even after I learned the answer I couldn't quite understand what's going on. I understand that we amaterial advantage by capturing the knight with a pawn, but I can't understand why the queen has to go to d8. Can someone please explain the answer?
[FEN "r1b2rk1/1pqpbppp/p3pn2/6B1/3NP3/2N2Q2/PPP2PPP/R3R1K1 w - - 0 1"]

1. e5! Qd8 2. exf6


user4418: The knight is pinned to the bishop so when white plays e5 the knight can't move without losing the bishop. It looks like maybe the knight could move to d5 protecting the bishop. The problem is that white can take the knight with the knight on c3 and black doesn't have time to play BxB because the white knight on d5 is threatening the queen on c7 and so black must first take that d5 knight.
[fen "r1b2rk1/1pqpbppp/p3pn2/6B1/3NP3/2N2Q2/PPP2PPP/R3R1K1 w - - 0 1"]

1. e5 Nd5 2. Nxd5 exd5 3. Bxe7 Re8 4. Bd6


28465: <p>I came across this puzzle and even after I learned the answer I couldn't quite understand what's going on. I understand that we amaterial advantage by capturing the knight with a pawn, but I can't understand why the queen has to go to d8. Can someone please explain the answer?</p>
<pre><code>[FEN &quot;r1b2rk1/1pqpbppp/p3pn2/6B1/3NP3/2N2Q2/PPP2PPP/R3R1K1 w - - 0 1&quot;]

1. e5! Qd8 2. exf6
</code></pre>
 4418: <p>The knight is pinned to the bishop so when white plays e5 the knight can't move without losing the bishop. It looks like maybe the knight <em>could</em> move to d5 protecting the bishop. The problem is that white can take the knight with the knight on c3 and black doesn't have time to play BxB because the white knight on d5 is threatening the queen on c7 and so black must first take that d5 knight.</p>
<pre><code>[fen &quot;r1b2rk1/1pqpbppp/p3pn2/6B1/3NP3/2N2Q2/PPP2PPP/R3R1K1 w - - 0 1&quot;]

1. e5 Nd5 2. Nxd5 exd5 3. Bxe7 Re8 4. Bd6
</code></pre>
