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

Perez v Najdorf, Costa del Sol 1961

Solution

The solution is very hard: 2 Bd4+!! is the key first move; 2…Kd4[] 3 Qd2+. If 3…Ke4 4 Rf4+ and a mating check-check routine, Qd4+ Rf6+ Qd6+ etc; and similarly with 3…Ke5. So 3…Rd3 4 Qb4+ Ke3 5 Qf4+ Ke2 6 Qe4+…actually, mating with Q+R is a difficult task; and rather than show too many lines, I will leave it to the reader to consider as much as he or she wants.

According to the book, Black’s king moved in a different way e5-d5-e4-d5-e5-d4-c3-b2-a3 before being mated by Qe1-e7+

However, I have my doubts. The sequence is fantastic, problem like; and also Megabase shows Najdorf winning, with White missing the  Nc3!! idea. So, I suspect the puzzle is a post mortem or later analysis.

FEN

7r/8/pB1p1R2/4k2q/1p6/1Pr5/P5Q1/6K1 w – – 0 37