Cordingley puzzle 20

White to play and win

Solution

Firstly, this being puzzle 20, it was one of the puzzles printed in FEN notation, to save paper in war-time Britain. [idle thought: was publishing chess books a good use of scarce resources during the war?]. So I had to set it up on the board, and instantly recognised it as Botvinnik-Capablanca, Avro 1938: the position, and the solution, is part of my ‘chess culture’.

So, 1 Ba3! Qa3 2 Nh5+ gh 3 Qg5+ and Qf7+, e7: and the white king can escape the checks, so 1-0.

Of some interest is what happens after 1…Qe8? Then 2 Qc7+ Kg8 3 Be7!! (not a natural move, at least not to me) the point being that if 3…Nh5, white exchanges and then plays 5Bf6 mating. White is effectively a piece up, given that the Nb3 is not contributing.

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