Cordingley puzzle 40
White to play and win (well no, actually)
Alas, this problem is badly cooked. It is still worth analysing, as an exercise.
Solution
I tried to solve this one, and, knowing it was a problem, knew that 1 Rf5 was the 'solution'…but felt white ran out of steam after 1…gf 2 Nf5+ Kh7 3 Nh6 Kh6. 4 Qh4+ Kg6 or Kg7. My first try was 5 Rf5+, smiting (to use a CJS Purdy word that I like) the Queen, but I soon saw that after Qd4+, black can then play f6. So instead I decided that Rf4 or Rf3 were the better rook lifts. However, having seen the idea of f6 after Rf5, and noting that f6 both protects g5 but also enables Bg6, I wondered (for which read doubted) that white had enough.
Of course, I also looked at 1…Qc3, with 2 e5 the obvious move, and stopped my analysis after 3 Rg5: my assessment was 'white had chances' with the Nf5 fork, and the LPDO Rf6 (the threat being Qf6+); but I couldn't see any further, and stopped, and checked Cordingley's solution.
Alas, there are several holes in it: some obvious to me, some Houdini assisted.
This is the position where I felt (correctly, as Houdini tells me) that white hasn't enough oomph to win: he will lose, once black has regrouped.
There is some pretty analysis in the attached PDF. Whilst the puzzle is flawed as a 'white to win' problem, it is a good Aagaardian exercise.
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allanbeardsworth 