Cordingley puzzle 56

Black to play and win

Solution

I think there are three candidate moves: 1…Nc6, which is quickly ruled out, 1…Nd7 and 1…Qb5. I saw no advantage in 1…Nd7, so played 1…Qb5, and was pleased to see it was Houdini's first choice. The move played in the game (and I see from Megabase that the game was a 'living pieces' demonstration game) was 1…Nd7, which transposes except for the fact that the natural 2 Qb7, which was the reason I preferred 1…Qb5, permits white to swap his queen for a number of pieces, when the evaluation is slightly better for white. If I gave Houdini longer, it is the type of position where its evaluation could change, but I suspect 1…Qb5 is truly the better move: it cuts down white's options.

The game continuation, and especially the spectacular Bf2-e3, is very pretty.

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