Cordingley puzzle 202 #chess
White to play and win
Solution
No prizes for guessing the first move (1 Re6) though Houdini tells me that 1 Qh5 and 1 Qg4 are very strong. Similarly, 1…Ke6 2 Qg4+ are obvious, but then there was branching.
The easiest king moves to defeat are Kd6, Ke5, Ke7: the bishop typically comes to a3 and the rook and queen do the rest: but I should say I took more time than I should have going through each route. These then left Kf7 and Kf6, both met by 3 Rf1+ (though 2…Kf7 also gives white the alternative 3 Rc7+) and then it is a choice between Kg7 and Kg6, the former being intuitively (and actually) better. 3…Kg6 loses either to 4 Rf5 or 4 Qe6+ Kh5[] 5 Rf6 mating, so only 3…Kg7 matters.
And I fluffed it, at least in my head from the initial position, thinking that 4 Rf5? won, but 4…Qb6 defends, when the ending is unclear. Whether had I had the position on the board after 3…Kg6 I would have found 4 Qe6+ ( I suspect I would, it is an obvious check) but for the puzzle itself, I don't get top marks- and should have been able to, the exercise is good but not too hard.
There is the nice point that (4 Qe6+ Kg7) 5 Bd4+! Rd4 shows that the Rd8 had the function of defending the Rd8, which falls off after 5 Qe7+.
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allanbeardsworth 