Cordingley puzzle 183 #chess
White to play and win
Solution
I scored poorly on this one: less than half marks, perhaps. I quickly focussed on 1 Ng6, noting that 1…Qg7 2 Ne7+ is hopeless, so that 1…fg is forced. Then 2 Qg6+ Qg7 3 Rd8+ Rd8 and then horror of horrors! -I had thought that my rooks were doubled on the queen's file. Maybe Ivanchuk can visualise endless lines sightless (I mention Vassily since often when I have watched him he spends a lot of the time staring up into space- of course, many players can do this); but there should have been a don't try this at home warning: I was solving this one on my holiday sunbed, 'solved it', checked Cordingley's solution, and only then saw the error that I had made.
As ever with such tactical, open, positions, the engines have more to say, with some lines given in the attached analysis. Houdini 3 doesn't think highly of white's second move (after 1e5 Bg2) preferring 2 Rd8 or 2 Qg2 to the move played. Houdini shows an incredible mating line overcoming an incredible defence: well worth playing through.
I knew it would be the case, but checked afterwards, and black was the artist Marcel Duchamp, who played for France in the Prague and some other Olympiads.
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allanbeardsworth 