Daily Chess Puzzle

Today’s problem is from the 1972 book “Chess Combination as a Fine Art”, a book based on articles published in the 1950s-1960s by Kurt Richter.

Since the start of 2018, 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, unless on occasion I think signposting would be helpful. Instead, the problems are posed with the instruction to decide what you would play, as in a game.

White to play

Polugaevsky v Szilagyi, Moscow 5/6/1960

Solution

A nice deflection seals the win. After the obvious 1 Rg1+ Kh6, 2 Bf8+!! gives White time to play (after 2…Rf8[]) 3 Rd3.

FEN

r2r4/1p1R3p/5pk1/b1B1Pp2/p4P2/P7/1P5P/1K1R4 w – – 0 31