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

Olsson v Puig, Varna Olympiad Preliminaries, 25/9/1962

Solution

Back a few days: I looked at 1 Re6! which Richter gave !!; but in fact deserves no exclam. White’s advantage reduces, and 1 g3! would have preserved more, though why is beyond me. 1…Qb6 2 Qb6 Rb6 3 f4 seems to be the main line.

In fact, the whole position (covered in the last few days) is ripe for more explanation: and e.g. when h3 is best, and when g3 is best. Worth exploring.

Here is the ChessBase15 graph of the game.

FEN

1r1q1rk1/Q3Rpp1/3p2bp/1p1B4/8/8/PP3PPP/4R1K1 w – – 0 25