Cordingley puzzle 49

Black to play and win

Solution

The winning line is fairly transparent, N to f4, and penetrate on the white squares, but I found the precise calculation difficult. It took me a while to decide which knight to move to f4, eventually settling on moving the d3 knight, as in the game, and more or less getting the calculations right. I chose 1… Ndf3 for two vague reasons: so the Nd3 isn't en prise in some lines, and so that the Ng6 can control e5, preventing Ne5. However, Houdini somewhat prefers Ngf4, its reason being that a later defence by Ne1 isn't possible, because the Nd3 controls e1.

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