Test your chess: daily chess puzzle

White to play and win

P Eljanov v I Novikov Israeli championships 2011

Solution

Another 'stinker' from Malcolm Pein's Daily Telegraph column. As mentioned in an earlier posting, I tear out and keep for a rainy day (or, in this case, a train journey) any whose puzzles I can't solve by inspection.

Here, the motifs are fairly apparent: the jump biff Qd1-d8; the Nf6+ discovery on the queen, the tie of the Nc6 to the Qd8….but how to exploit them?

Examine all biffs eventually led me to 1 Be7! and as soon as I saw it, I knew the problem was solved. If 1…Be7, 2 Ne7+ and the queen drops off, and if 2…Qe7 3 Re7 Ne7 4 Qd8+ 1-0; 1…Ne7, 2 Nf6+ 1-0. So instead black has to grovel with something like 1…Qc8 and allow his king's protection to be shattered.

I do find it funny: had there been a black piece on e7, B*e7 would have been an immediate move to look at; but since the square is vacant, B-e7 is hard to see: that is the beauty of Purdy's examine all biffs tool.

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