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: examine the sequence 1 g4 Ng4 2 Qg4

Jones v de Vault, Denton 1968

Solution

1 g4? loses a pawn, since 2 Qg4?? is mated by 2…Qc3+! 3 bc Ba3.

FEN

3rr1k1/pp3ppb/2pbpn1p/q6P/5P2/1BP1B3/PP2Q1P1/2KR1N1R w – – 0 1