Cordingley puzzle 171 #chess

Black to play and win

Solution

White's king is in a net, and the other Purdy factor is that the Qa6 is LPDO. So it is a question initially about where to throw away the Nf4- by which I mean it is at present preventing 1…Qc1+.

Noting that the LPDO queen can be skewered if 1…Nd3 2 Kd3 (by 2…Qf1+), that knight move has appeal: also, if 2 Qd3, the queen takes away his king's escape square, so that 2…Qc1 is mate. And if 2 c4, then if nothing else, the Nd3 can fork the king and queen with Nb4+: it is one of those positions were all the tactics work. In fact, if 2 c4, black as mate in two by Qs2+-Qb2mate. Random other defences like 2 Bc5 also lose to the same mate in two.

A nice puzzle, not too hard, but with some calculation.

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