Daily Chess Puzzle

Today’s problem is from a fairly recent column by Malcolm Pein in the Daily Telegraph.

I found the puzzle very hard; having to cut out the clipping, try solving it a few times on dog walks, before getting the pieces out, setting the position up, before I had the eureka moment.

As is my custom, I only say 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

Grandelius N v Nihal, Sarin,  Malmo 8/5/19

Solution

I saw that the Black queen was in a net but it took me a long time to see how to make use of it.

1 Bg5!!

In the game,  Black played 1…Bd4 2 Rd4 fg 3 Rd7, and white was dominant and won a few moves later.

If instead 1…fg then 2 Re5 Kf7 (say) 3 Re7+ and mates.

Very difficult.

FEN

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