Daily Chess Puzzle

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: played 1…Re8. Analyse

Böök v Koponen Helsinki 1961

Solution

Black’s position is lost anyway, but 1…Re8 is met by 2 ef! and after 2…Qe2 3 f7+ Kf8 4 Bg7+! wraps the game up.

FEN

1br3k1/1R4pp/pp2qn2/4P3/P7/1P4P1/1B2Q2P/1B4K1 b – – 0 1