Daily Chess Puzzle

Today’s problem is just a position which caught my eye recently. Malcolm Pein annotated the game in a recent Daily Telegraph column. What caught my eye was a move Malcolm didn’t comment on, in the brief space of a newspaper column.

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

Praggnanandhaa v Vocataro, Helsingor, 25/7/19

Solution

Praggnanandhaa played 1 Kf2!, a move that, likely, I would never have thought of.

The position is given not as a White to play and win, but as a “what would you do”?  I think 99 times out of 100 I would have played 1 0-0 without a moment’s thought.

Had I thought about 1 Kf2, to keep the King nearer the centre for when the Queens come off, I think I would just have easily rejected it.

Praggnanandhaa’s judgement was justified; a few moves later, pieces had come up, resulting in this position:

White is by no means winning, but he is a niggle of an edge, and later Vocaturo erred, and Praggnanandhaa managed to win. The whole game is worth examining: it is in Megabase and no doubt also in TWIC.

FEN

r1bq1rk1/1p2ppbp/3p1np1/8/p1P1P3/2N1BP2/PP1QB1PP/R3K2R w KQ – 0 12