Test your chess: Reitstein problem 220: a good challenge

White to play and win

A good puzzle today: especially if you both find white's winning attempt, and black's best defensive try.

S Lewis v I Bekerman 1953

Solution

After trying to 'get to' h7 by Qh5, Qh4, Qh3 and even Bh7+, and seeing that …g6 is normally the defence, trying 1 g6! deserves to be looked at. Once seen, it is quickly apparent that it is decisive: 1…fg 2 Bg6 and 3 Qh5 follows. Or 1…gf 2 fg+ Kf7 3 Bg6+ skewers the king and queen, and the final main line is 1…gf 2…fg+ Nf7 3 Bh7+! and mates, which was the game continuation. Random defences like 1…Rc3….

The above was my draft, thinking I had solved it, though I used 'defences' because I was also intrigued about whether 1…Nb7, connecting rooks, might save black: he is, after all, a piece up. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought 'how to crack 1…Rc3?’ Eventually I gave up, and turned to Stockfish, who also suggested 1..Ne6 as a possible defence.

The position would be a good position for Aagaardian analysis: having spent some time on it, I have gained some understanding of it. The best move against each of 1…Nb7?, 1…Ne6 and 1…Rc3! is in each case 2 Bf5! Once the engine has suggested it, it becomes 'obvious', or, rather, explainable. It keeps the king in a mating net, sometimes threatening to come to e6, but mainly just boxing black in. In the case of the best defence, the counterattacking 1…Rc3!, 2 Bf5! has the additional point of preserving the Bishop. I looked at 2 Qh5? but 2…gf[] 3 Qh7+ Kf8[] 4 g7+ Ke7 5 g8(Q) (promoting to N is equivalent) Qg8 6 Qg8 Rc2….and black is winning! A brilliant example of counter attack and resourceful defence.

The best line is 1 g6! Rc3! 2 Bf5! Rc4! 3 Qh5 Rh4!! 4 Qh4 (4 gf+ is similar) fg and it is more or less equal.

Remarkable defence, I believe, but once seen understandable as returning excess material.

So, overall, the position is cooked, or at least I think it is: there is a narrow path to broad equality.

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