Cordingley puzzle 189 #chess

White to play and win

Solution

Lovely.

One of my favourite puzzles so far. I found it mystifyingly difficult, but resolved to solve it, and eventually did.

In a real game, I would play weakly, Qd2-d4, and hope a build up worked. Here, noting the LPDO Bb7, I even thought of 1 b4, but after 1…Rab8 it is black who has improved. Similarly, 1Rfe1 couldn't be a solution to a problem, for instance because 1…Na5 unfrees black. So I knew the moment had to be seized. I has previously looked at 1 Nf6+ but black takes and places 1…Qd8, and he is winning. So what could the move be?

I decided to refocus, and look for black's weakest point. It is h7, so 1Nfg5! then came to mind, for a second also thinking that the attack could be reinforced by Pf4, but of course the pawn is pinned, so it has to be a piece attack.

Firstly, the LPDO Bb7 is important here: the Nc6 is firmly pinned, so black can only capture with 1…Qe5. But then 2 Qh5 h6 3 Bf7+ and Qg6 is a standard mate. So 2..Qf5 was the only remaining move to defeat, and I am glad to see the idea of Nf6 and then Be4 came quickly enough: I think this combinatory motif is called a reloader.

For completeness, 1…h6 fails to 2Qh5. There is a fatal reloader if black takes the N, and otherwise there is the unstoppable threat of Qg6.

Finally, to cap it all, here was where I was when solving this, on a boat near Kekova, Turkey.

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