Mistake in the Grauniad

[Jonathan Rogers]

It is raining, and I have been reading papers online. The puzzle in the Guardian caught my attention, because I saw the tactical idea immediately but was not sure whether it actually worked. See it for yourself

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/ma ... parov-fide

And indeed the solution is faulty. After 1 Bf7+ Kxf7 2 Rc7+ Kg8 3 Qxe6+ Kh8, it is said that 4 Qf7 wins. But Black plays 4...Rd1+ and 5...Qh4 mate! It was this position at move 4 that had made me wonder about the starting combination - White's king is in grave trouble too.

But on further reflection, I think the original combination works, and when White plays 4 Qe1! at the end, an apparently retrograde move which is forced to cope with Black's threats, I wonder whether he is actually winning! It is not just a question of Qa1+ in the air; he can also plays Qb1, which may tangle Black further (4...Qf6 5.Qb1!). I think that the exposure of Black's king with the power of the rook on the seventh is too much.

Still, it is unusual to see such deadly backward moves - and especially unusual that they should even be forced.

Moreover, I wonder how many strong players would not play 1 Bf7+, not because they had not seen the tactical motif with Rc7+ but because they would panic when looking ahead to move 4 when they note Black's own threats; and they would not then bring themselves to look at 4.Qe1 with any interest. I suspect that I might be one (though am not sure; it might depend on what sort of day it was).

[Richard Bates]

For the record, the actual game had a pawn on e3...

[Leonard Barden]

For the record, the actual game had a pawn on e3...

...which dropped off during production. These things happen. Correction next week. Jonathan is right that after Kg8 (Kf8? was played) White must win prosaically, eg Qxe6+ and Rc8.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Oh, so there were two mistakes then, because White still gets mated in the solution given!

It's a shame about the pawn on e3. The very nice 4 Qe1 now becomes impossible and in its place lots of prosaic winning continuations (4 Rc8, etc) appear instead.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Even stranger, that Leonard's post seems to anticipate my own, which appeared later, though just a few seconds later! Can even Carl can explain that ...?