Daily Chess Puzzle: best of 2017

To start 2018, I will on most days post positions, moves, or games that have given me pleasure during 2017. I will intersperse these with two further items: (i) problems from the 1972 book “Chess Combination as a Fine Art”, a book based on articles published in the 1950s-1960s by Kurt Richter; (ii) a pot pourri of puzzles taken from my years of newspaper clippings, printouts and other pieces of paper which I have collated over the years. I have piles of the latter, and made a new year’s resolution to go through them, clearing out those which no longer interest me. I hope to find some gems in these old papers.

I have decided to adopt the style of only saying which side is to play: and not giving an idea if the move wins or otherwise. Instead, the problems are posed with the instruction to decide what you would play, as in a game.

To start the year, who else to start with then someone I have followed for over 40 years, my old school mate Nigel Short.

Black to play: what did Nigel play against the Kopec system?

N Becker v Nigel Short, World Senior Championships, 24/4/17

Solution

Nigel played 1…g5!?, a move I doubt I would have considered. White took the bait, after which Nigel got an immediate attack on the kingside. The game is in Megabase 2017 and TWIC.

FEN

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