Daily Chess Puzzle

Today’s problem is from the recent Bunratty chess festival

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

Tivakov v Bates, 25/2/18, Bunratty

Solution

This position was chosen since I watched the game live, being a fan of Tiviakov (because of the chapter on him in Sadler’s and Regan’s excellent book Chess for Life. It is the end of the game shown yesterday.

1 Rg7+! since if 1…Qg7, 2 Qh5 is a nice smothered mate.

FEN

1r5Q/p3q2R/2p1brk1/2pp4/8/3P2NP/PPP3P1/6K1 w – – 0 25