Another puzzle for an easy Reitstein day

White to play and win

Miezis- Luke Z. Li , Melbourne 2013

Solution

The move I first thought of was 1 Rg6!, though at first I couldn't see how strong it actually was, and quickly changed to my next thought, 1 Nf6+!!.

1 Nf6+!! wins: if 1…Kh8?? 2 Rh5 is mate, and 1…Kf8 drops the exchange, so 1..gf[], when 2 Rg6+! crashes through. The key line is 2…fg:

I quickly saw that the obvious 3 Rg6+ might not be good enough, and that 3 Qh6 is stronger: if 3…g5 4 Qg6+ followed by Qf6+ and the house falls in; and 3…Bf7 doesn't defend g6 since the B is pinned by the Bb3 to the king: so 1-0.

Other black defences are weaker, so I then loaded the position into Stockfish, and also tried 1 Rg6!: it turns out it is more or less equivalent since if 1…fg 2 Nf6+! Kf7, white has 3 Ne4! hitting the LPDO Qd6 and then playing 4 Ng5+: the bishop falls since if 4…Kf6 (3 Ne4 Qd7 4 Ng5+) 5 Qe5+ forces 5….Ke7. So, 1 Rg6! is equally winning.

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