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

Nagy v Rotaru, Rumania 1963

Solution

A hard one, and one I failed on. 1… Rg2+! is the move (I saw it, of course, but didn’t see the follow through). After 2 Rg2[] Rh3:

Black forces the win of the Q by 3 Nh3 Qd4+; and then either the exchange is lost too, or 4 Rgf2 Qd4 0-1.

FEN

6k1/1b3p1p/pp4p1/6r1/3Q1N1q/4r2P/PP3RP1/5RK1 b – – 0 1