Cordingley puzzle 153 #chess

Black to play: e6 is threat

Solution

Oh dear. I spent a lot of time on this puzzle, presuming that there was something special, given that black appears to be in dire straits. Firstly, I hoped that maybe if black could get to play Qe3+ then there might be a perpetual, but I quickly saw that this would not be the case: for instance, the Bd5 blocks most attempts. Then, I looked at obvious tries like 1…Rd6 and 1…Nh6, saw that these failed, and realised the solution Had to be more imaginative. I set the position up on a board, and devoted some time to it. The move 'I'd like to play' is 1… Ne5, but the queen is LPDO after 2 Be5 Qe5 3 Bf7+, and biffing the Qc5 first with 1…b6 doesn't seem to help, and nor did the zwischenzug 2…b6: 3 Qc6 or even 3 Bf7+ seemed to win. The more fanciful 1…Ne3 loses simply to 2 Qe3 Rd6 3 Bf7+. So, in desperation, I struck upon 1…g5 and hoped that 2 Rg4 Rd6 might suffice: but the engine tells me that 3 e6! wins.

Alas, the problem is totally cooked. And Cordingley knew it, with him giving the game continuation and the comment 'Alas! It is not what it seemed'. Such puzzles and answers would never occur nowadays.

However, as an exercise, it was good. So the time spent was not totally wasted.

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