Test your chess: daily chess puzzle # 93

White to play and win

AA Ponelis v J Glyn 1976

Solution

Not hard today, because the desperate straits white is in, with back rank mate threatened (and 1 Rg1 is met by 1…Qg2+! 2 Rg2[] Rd1+ mating) means white must 'keep checking', which is a desperate times version of examine all biffs.

The win then is fairly straightforward: 1 Ne6+ Ke8[] 2 Qh8+ and 3 Qd8+, and then taking on f2.

That was the game continuation, and is 'obvious'. The engine, and to his credit, Reitstein (writing in the pre engine era) gives 2 Nc7+ as 'even stronger' in the sense of +8 compared with +5. It doesn't mate, and having looked at why the machine prefers Nc7+, I still prefer the human simplifying approach of quickly snaffling the Rd8.

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