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.

White to play, played 1 Qc5; examine

Castagna v Marcus, Berne 1965

Solution

1Qc5? is a mistake since 1…g5! diverts the Bishop, breaking its pin of the d6 pawn. In the game White played 2 Re8 met with 2…Qb1+ after which White resigned.

FEN

1q2nrk1/5pbp/3p2p1/p1pP4/2Q2B2/2P3P1/P4PBP/4R1K1 w – – 0 1