Cordingley puzzle 100 #chess

White to play and win

Solution

Oh dear: 100 being an important number, I wanted to do well on this one, and I flunked it badly. I got the first move immediately- and, after a lot of subsequent thinking, it remained my only idea- but I completely messed up including black's immediate response to it.

The initial move is 1 Ng5; no surprise there, it is a natural thrust. I spent all my time on 1…Qg5 after which I played 2 Bh7+ Kh7 3 Rf8 Rf8 4 Rf8, and tried to assess the position. Annoyingly, I didn't spot that I that position, the Qg5 is LPDO, so that there is a Nc4 tactic- not that it is too great, but it might have helped me as we shall see below. I think my assessment of the resultant position (after 4 Rf8) was about right: more or less equal, maybe advantage for white, but really any result can happen. So, in practice, having no other ideas, I think I would have plumped for 1 Ng5.

If this were a school exam question, I would deserve 2/10 for finding 1 Ng5; but missed the other three marks because 1…Qg5 loses to 2 Nd5!- it hardly deserves an exclamation mark, but is given one solely because I missed it: the Q is a LPDO on g5. Black's best is 2…Qh4 but he is clearly lost. Maybe I only deserve 1 mark for 1 Ng5.

In the game, black played the better defence, 1…Rf2 I hardly considered, since my principal task was to defeat the capture of the knight. Playing through the position after 1…Rf2 with Houdini is a revelation…seeing how much power there is in white's pieces, though probably this shouldn't be too much of a surprise because all white's pieces are lined up against the king, with the furthest away of them, the Ne3, quickly brought into the party with Ng4; and 1…h6 is similar.

The attached analysis file shows some precise, instructive attacking lines.

Game100

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