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

If I were White, I would spend a lot of time on 1 Bd5, before rejecting it: for not being able to fathom all the variations. And, indeed, my engine says 1 Kh2 is best, with a slight advantage to White.

But White played 1 Bd5, met with by 1…ed. Then what?

Rossetto v Cardoso, Portoroz Interzonal 4/9/1958

Solution

If I had dared play 1 Bd5, which I wouldn’t, I would have now played 1 Re7, and indeed it is winning after 1…d4 2 Rg7+! [] (others lose) 2…Kg7 3 Nf5+ and apparently White is winning- though for me, it is near losing!

But White played 2 Qg7+!!

I will leave it to my readers to try to work out the variations to their satisfaction, after 2…Kg7 3 Nf5+.

Black has 5 king moves, each of which has to be defeated. I found it impossible to visualise how to defeat each of them, and have noted it as an exercise for me to have a go at, another time, with pieces, board, and clock.

FEN

6k1/r1qn2np/3pp3/2p3P1/2P3PN/1PQ1R1KP/r5B1/4R3 w – – 0 40