Test your chess: Reitstein problem 223

White to play and win

Slightly cooked, so worth spending some time on. Reitstein's rubric was 'If, as White, you had reached this favourable position you would soon realise that if given the chance your opponent could return some material by 1…Ne5 for counter play. So you have to force home your advantage without delay, as Kirby did.'

KF Kirby v M Bleiden 1949

Solution

Reitstein's hint is a big steer to 1 Rf7, and this is indeed the move which was played. The game continued 1..Qc6 2 Raf1 Qh6 3 Qf5 1-0. However, isn't 1…Ne5! a natural try, since whilst the Qc7 is LPDO, so is the Qd3? Stockfish confirmed that the position is level: 2 Qh7+ Kh7 3 Rc7 cd 4 cd Nc4.

So strange that Reitstein didn't mention it, and also strange that black didn't play it, though of course it might have been a time trouble position.

Stockfish has a nice move following the above position, which I will post separately in a moment.

So, since I saw 1…Ne5, it wasn't hard to see 1 Qf5 or 1Rf5! which is the move I chose, and is also the engine's choice. One nice point is that 1 Rf5 Kg7 2 Rf7+!!

2…Kf7 3 Qh7+ Ke8 (say) 4 Raf1 and the fact that the Qc7 is LPDO and there is a jump biff Qf7-c7 in the position means it is game over.

Posted with Blogsy