Daily Chess Puzzle

Today’s problem is from the recent World Teams Championships in which England won silver, and Luke McShane got gold on second board. Today is one of Luke’s games.

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 e6 Qe6 2 Bc5, as played in the game

Sasikirian v McShane, Astana 9th March 2019

Solution

Watching this game live, I felt it was quite level, but also realised I had no real idea what was going in this quiet Italian Opening game.  Pieces were juggled around, and I just hoped Luke would be safe, and hoped that he might make something of his passed c pawn.

Then, White played 1 e6 which really surprised me, until I saw the point: 1…fe? 2 Nf4, so 1…Qe6[] when 2 Bc5 snaffles the passed pawn.

But 2 Bc5?? since 2…Nc5 3 Nc5 Qe1+! 4 Kh2[] Qe5+ and the Nc5 falls: 0-1.

Every picture tells a story, and Chessbase 15’s auto-analysis of the game shows that, yes, indeed, the game was level-ish until the end.

FEN

6k1/1p3pp1/1P5p/2pqP3/2n1n3/3NB2P/2Q2PP1/6K1 w – – 0 30