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

Hayden v Winser, Hastings 1947/8

Solution

White’s best is 1 Be3!!, seeking to force Black’s Queen to no longer control h8, so that after the R on d7 is pinned by the Qg4, Rh8+ will mate.

After 1..Qe3 2 Qg4+ Rd7 (2…Nd7 3 Ra8 mate) 3 Rh8+ and mate after a couple of irrelevant interpositions.

And after 2 Qg4+ Qe6 3 Rf7 is the key move, reaching c7:

FEN

1nkr4/1pp2p1R/1P6/2b3P1/3q1P2/8/1P2Q3/R1B2K2 w – – 0 1