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

Eggenberger v Schumacher, Basle 1959

Solution

White threatens Ne7+ Kh8[] Nf7 smothered mate, so the Qb4 is tied to defending e7. Therefore, any deflection might work, and it isn’t hard to see that 1 Qd2! does the trick: hitting the LPDO Qb4 and the LPDO Nf4.

After 1..Qd2 White gets to play his smothered mate.

FEN

b2r1nk1/6pp/1p2p3/4NN2/1qBP1n2/5P2/1P4PP/3QR1K1 w – – 0 1

Footnote

I solved this problem instantly, which meant- good news for me- that I had learnt a lesson.