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

Hartston v Penrose, London 1963

Solution

White took a draw in this position (per Megabase, Bill Hartston never beat Jonathan Penrose, losing three times, the rest drawn) whereas he is winning.

1 Rf7! Kf7[] (1…g5 is hopeless) 2 Bc4+ Kf8

3 Rf1+ Bf6[] 4 Rf6+! gf[] 5 Qg8+ Ke7

This is about as far as I can see clearly from the initial position, but from here I could see 6 Qe6+ and 7 Qg8+ with repetition, so I think if I were White, I would have played 1 Rf7, thinking I had the safety of a draw.

Having reached the position, it isn’t hard to see that instead White has 6 Qe6+ Kf8[] 7 Qf6+ and 1-0: mate next move after 7…Qf7 8 Qf7 mate.

FEN

3rr1k1/1pq1bpp1/p1n4p/4p3/4P3/1N1B2Q1/PPP3PP/3R1R1K w – – 0 1