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 1 Bh6, as played in the game

Bannik v Ivkov, Rijeka 1963

Solution

1 Bh6? Nf4! gives Black freedom, since 2 Bf4?? allows 2…Qe1+ and a hara-kiri sac of the queen for stalemate.

Otherwise, Black gets too much play.

FEN

k7/1p2q3/pQ2n2p/P2p3P/2pP2P1/2P1B3/2P2P2/6K1 w – – 0 35