Cordingley puzzle 232 #chess

White to play and win

Solution

Anyone who has played open Sicilians will immediately think of 1 Bb5+! ( my teenage devouring of Sacrifices in the Sicilian, the Batsford book by David Levy, pays dividends) when 1…ab 2 Nb5+ Qany 3 Nd6+ Qd6[] 4ed looks over powering.

Black can defend however by 4 … Nfd7 but it doesn't take long to see that 5 Ne4 Qany 6 de is very strong: the threat of Nd6+ Nb7 overloads the queen- it can't defend both the Bb7 and the Ne5, so 1-0.

I think in modern practice black might defend more stubbornly with 1…Kf8, though 2 ed Nd5 3 Be5 should be sufficient – black can pin the Nd4 with Rd8, but white has time to defend with c3 if needed, or can move away.

A nice enough puzzle: the first move isn't challenging, but seeing it through to conclusion is a good exercise. I suspect also that 1 ed might be equivalent or similar; and that Houdini might find further depths.

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