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: 1..Qa3?? loses, as shown yesterday. What should Black have played instead?

Westerinen v Loikkanen, Helsinki 1963

Solution

1..Qc2+! secures the draw. After 2 Qc2[] Bc2+ 3 Kc2[] Rc4+ the LPDO Bc6 drops off.

FEN

5rk1/5ppp/p1B5/2Q1Pb2/qr6/8/1PP3PP/1K1R3R b – – 0 1