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.

Black to play

Stefanov v Andreyev, Bulgaria 1957

Solution

The first few moves are obvious; whether in an actual game I would have the confidence to see it through to the end/see the line sufficient to have a bale-out draw, I don’t know.

1…Qa2+ 2 Ka2 Bd3+ 3 Kb3 c4+ 4 Kb4

And now the engine shows what the book’s authors and the players didn’t see, that 4..Nc6+! is quicker than 4…Na6+. The latter eventually led to:

and Black found 7…Rc7+!! 8 Ka8[] Bd4! and mate (9…Ra7 ) next move.

FEN

rn3rk1/4ppbp/b2p2p1/2pP2B1/q3N3/5P2/PP1Q2PP/1K1R2NR b – – 0 1