Cordingley puzzle 207 #chess

White to play and win

Solution

No prizes for the first move, 1 Bf7+ which is obvious, nor for the next two: 1…Kf7 2 Ng5+. This puzzle is merely an exercise in calculation in that position, against the four possible king moves. The first, 2…Kf8?? Is trivially bad, 3 Ne6+, winning the queen, but worth noting because the Ne6 fork comes up in many lines.

The second retreat, and the more obvious one, 2…Kg8 is slightly harder to crack, though not too hard because the tree of analysis is like an American redwood (long, but not many branches) and 3 Qh5 Nf5 4 Qh7+ Kf8 [] 5 Qf5+ Kg8 (5…Ke7 6 Qe6+ Kf8 7 Nh7mate or 6…Kd8 7 Nf7+ +-) when 6 Qg6! is cleanest- it is quite nice seeing how each of black's attempts to defend are then mated (the threat being the rook lift Re3-Rh3-Rh8+ decoy sacrifice).

Position before 6Qg6

That leaves 2…Kf6 or 2…Kg6. The latter is weaker, when 3 Qg4 comes with tempo, so 2…Kf6 is tougher. It is still best met by 3 Qg4, with a build up by either a rook lift or by f4. In my calculation from the original position I chose 3 Ng7?! which is good, but loses some of the advantage, though in practice once 2..Kf6 was on the board I might well have played a better move.

In the analysis below, line B is a pretty mate. Found, need you ask, by Houdini.

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