Daily chess puzzle: Check Mate #381

Another puzzle from Dragoslav Andric’s 1981 book “Matni Udar”.

White to play and mate Black

Marjazin v Bortnikov, Liepaja 1974

Solution

Oh, woe is me, since I totally failed to solve this puzzle, and, once I saw the solution, it was “easy”.

Or is it? I wonder how many of my readers solved the puzzle quickly, or how many struggled like me, and how many couldn’t solve it? Any comments would be appreciated.

Once I looked at the solution, I immediately felt I should have been able to solve it, either by “brute force” of looking at every move, or by CJS Purdy’s mantra “examine all biffs”.

However, there was a better way to solve it, again down to CJS Purdy. His poem, from his book Fine Art, vol 2:

Some things are hooey,

and most others lies;

But forks you mustn’t miss,

nor pins, nets, ties.

With this clue, noting the word emboldened in red, hopefully my readers can do what I failed to do: solve the puzzle.

(Note, the “solution” is not the prosaic 1 Qc7+ Ke8[]2 Nf6+ and 3 Bf4, which wins slowly and surely, but something more forceful)

(Further note: I found 1 Bd3, which is +- (Komodo says +3), one line being 1.. Nd6 2 Bf6+ Ke8 4 Rh1, which again is good enough for any practical game (I could win the position against the “Minister of Defence”, Karjakin, I feel) but again, there is something “better”.

FEN

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