Cordingley puzzle 201 #chess

Solution

This one is a good exercise

I found this problem harder than it should have been. I don't know quite how my thoughts went- this was a puzzle I had to keep returning to, but I am sure that in my initial appraisal I looked at moves such as 1 Ng7, 1 Nf6, 1 Rg7, 1 Rge3, 1 b4, the latter two trying to make something of the 'pin' on the e file (even Alekhin's gun Re3 Re2 Qe1 came to mind), the others trying to back rank mate.

But nothing seemed to work. Until I saw that 1 Rg7 Rg7 2 Nf6! crashed through, and then I knew that only some checking and calculation was needed.

It is fairly easy to get to this position in one's mind- after 2 Nf6, Q somewhere, 3 Ne8 Qe8, but then what? My first thought, harking to the pin on the e-file and Alekhin's gun, was 4 Qe3, which gives some advantage, as does 4 d4, but then I saw 4 Qf4! which is far stronger in the critical line. 4…Re7 [] 5 f6 Re6[] 6 Re5! Re5 [] 7 f7! and Qf6+ is terminal, whether or not black inserts Re1+.

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