Test your chess: daily chess puzzle # 25

Black to play and win

S Galleid v H Goldberg 1976

Solution

White has a deadly threat of Ne6++ and Qg7 mate; and meanwhile, the Nd4 protects e2, black's queen's entry square. So drastic measures are needed.

1…e5! suggests itself, using a prophylactic approach: it really dents white's attack. Then 2 fe c5!

If the knight moves, it is game over after 3…Nf4+ and 4…Qe2+ (though I haven't checked the lines). So the question is, can white spoil things by e.g. the messy 3 a3?

3 a3 black plays 3…cd, when 4 Qc4 hopes to win back the knight on d3 once its protection has gone. But it does not work: 4…Qc4 5 bc Nc2 6 Ra2 Ne5!

…with the points that 7 ed fails simply to 7…Nd4+, and it is game over, and 7 Rc2 to potassium cyanide, the pawn fork 7…d3+. It always makes me smile when I see this forking motif.

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