Cordingley puzzle 64

White to play and win

Solution

A decent puzzle, but not a great one. Clearly, the motif is back rank mate, with a discovery with the bishop; and white has some time, given his great lead in development, but must be at least on the look out to defend his f2.

I quickly landed on the move played in the game, 1 Ne4, seeing that the white squared bishop is unimportant, and seeing the pretty line actually played in the game. But I thought black had a better defence in 1…Qf5, when white merely has a great advantage: so in the end, I chose the equivalent first move, 1 Qf3: the same threat exists, and white wins either with the same combination or prosaically.

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