Cordingley puzzle 105 #chess

White to play and win

Solution

Oh dear. This problem isn't actually cooked, but neither is it prime steak either. I had the misfortune to spend a lot of time on it, taking it with me to think about on a Lake District walk.

In a game, I would probably either play 1 b3, and hope to build up against black's slightly open king, or 1 Bh6, which is the move I plumped for in the end: thinking time was against white.

I didn't even consider the move played in the game, 1 Nb5: in fact, I didn't 'see' the weakness of the Pd6, perhaps because it is masked by the beautifully placed Ne5. Anyway, Houdini actually prefers 1 Bh6, but also likes both 1 b3 and 1 Nb5. In the game continuation, it shows black's error occurred right before the very end: otherwise the position is equal, with black having just sufficient counter play.

At least the walk was super.

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