Bent Larsen- Bob Wade cook #chess

I have recently solved, or in fact, not solved the following puzzle from Raymond Edward's and Raymond Keene's lovely old book 'The Chess Player's Bedside Book'.

White to play and win

Bent Larsen v Bob Wade, Hastings, round 4, 30/12/72

Solution

I felt pleased with myself when I fairly quickly found the move Bent played, 1 d4, the idea being to ensure that the rook wasn't passive. 1…ed[] 2 Rd1 d2 3 Rd2 Rd2 4 Kd2 Kf7

5 e4! the point, 5…fe (5…Ke6 6 ef+ Kf5 7 g4+! and the pawn can't be taken, else the c pawn promotes) 6 g4 and the c5 pawn and imminent passed g5 pawn are too far apart for both to be stopped, whilst the a pawn is too far behind: one line reaches a winning queen ending for white.

However, Houdini thinks different. It regards 1 d4 as throwing away the win: 1…ed 2 Rd1 Kf7! 3 Rd3 Rd3+ 4 Kd3 Kd5 and all the lines I have tried end in a drawn K+PvK ending. I should add that Stockfish thinks 2 Rd1 is the drawing mood, and that white retains some advantage by 2 Kd2, but the various lines I have played out tend to lead to a R+2PvR+P drawn ending. Not conclusive, but I think there is a good chance that 1 d4 is equal.

Both engines, quick as a flash, want to play 1 Rc1! in the initial position, the point being 1…Rd3+ 2 Kb4 Rd2 3 c6 and black's rook is forced back to passive defence on c8, and white mops up the a pawn with his king and then either queens or wins too many of black's pawns.

I have attached a game file, produced with Chessbase12 which I hope supports my conclusion that 1 d4 is weaker than 1 Rc1! It is a pity that it takes an engine to follow the maxim 'rooks belong behind passed pawns' but that's chess, 21st century style.

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