It’s Your Move: daily chess puzzle # 132

White to play and win

Stein v Pelikan, Mar del Plata, 1966

Solution

Several moves win, with my engine preferring 1 Nf6 and/or 1 Bb5, to the line I chose, the flashier 1 Ne7! I think Stockfish chose the others because after 1 Ne7, 1…Ne5 Black can grovel on, though the engine assesses the position as +2.5; though my main line was a queen entrapment, 1…Ne7. 2 Rb3 Qa4 3 Bb5 Qa2[] 4 Bd4, with the double threat of disaster on f6 and Ra1.

The game, screen print from ChessBase's online app, is below. I was surprised to see that the line has been played before: it seemed one sided, but on further review, it is only 14…Rb8 which enables the poisoned pawn grabbing queen to be trapped.

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