Cordingley puzzle 225 #chess

White to play and win

Solution

A calculation exercise. The only question is 'does 1 Qd8+ win?', or, rather, 'how does 1 Qd8+! win?'.

If black doesn't take the queen, his LPDO Rh8 drops off, and taking on f2 doesn't succeed: or maybe 2 e6+ wins regardless. So only 1…Kd8 2 Bg5++ Ke8 [] 3 Rd8+ Kf7 [] needs to be calculated. I fixed this position in my mind as a stepping stone, and once so fixed, continued. 4 e6+ is natural, more to free e5 for the Nf3 than to check. If 4…Ke6 5 Nf4+ Kf7[] 6 Ng5 is mate, or 4…Kg6 5 Nf4 is again mate.

A nice puzzle: not simple, but not hard either.

The game can't be found either on Megabase or online.

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