Cordingley puzzle 65

White to play and seek an advantage

(More of a calculation/ideas test than a how to win one)

Solution

For the eagle eyed, the puzzle isn't described as 'white to play and win', because the solution only creates good chances. By doing these puzzles as my daily diet, I am getting some sense of them: knowing when to stop, when I have found enough, or enough for me.

Here, I quickly landed on 1 e4, but my rationale wasn't strong. I quite like such positions for black, and black only needs time to castle, develop, and then has chances for an interesting game: with maybe an attack on white's king: so the solution has to be to break open the centre before black can develop. Clearly, the Nc3 is a better piece to retain than the bishop, so 2 Be4.

I quickly discounted 3…Qe6 and Qe7- can't make sense to be on the e file, and felt that 3…Qg6 had to be the best defence: if nothing else, it pins the Ne4 against the LPDO Qc2. I tried various lines then, and in looking at the three queen moves (3…Qe6, Qe7, and Qg6, also saw lines with d5! and Bf4, and the back rank mating ideas: but I was convinced that white might have something even against Qg6, but the best prosecution of the attack would, for me, have to wait until the move was on the board: there is only so much I can calculate.

When I checked the solution, I never even thought of 3…Qf8, but it is of course similar. But Rybka, which I used for a change rather than my usual Houdini, quickly agreed that 3…Qg6 was best, and from the time I gave it to think, it gave the evaluation of slightly better for black.

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