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: evaluate 1 Qd6, as played in the game

Z Valdes v H Sta Cruz, place/date unknown

Solution

1 Qd6? was a mistake, met by 1…Qe4! with a knight fork if 2 fe. But 2 Ne3 is then met by a potassium cyanide fork 2…b2! and the game is over.

FEN

r3r1k1/pq3ppp/bp1p1n2/8/4P3/PpP2P2/3Q1KPP/R1B2N1R w – – 0 1