You will notice that the number of today’s puzzle “101″ may be split up into “1″, “0″ and “1″ – no draws! “Will to win” is an important component of playing strength in chess.

I can remember many times when I have gone through one of my student’s games and we come to a position where they offered/accepted a draw.  I ask “why did you offer a draw?”   They reply “Because I couldn’t see how to win.  I reply “So?” can you see how to win on move one.   Why don’t you just play on and see what happens.  If you play better than your opponent you may win.   If you play worse you may lose or it could still be a draw.  Good players are not afraid  of losing and have the confidence to play on to “test” their opponent.   I have won many games from boring, level or even inferior positions by just playing.   Also if your opponent knows that you will not accept a draw it places him under considerable psychological pressure.

IM James Morris faced this situation in round 2 of the City of Melbourne Open 2011.   He was playing a lower-rated opponent and he had perpetual check with his rooks doubled on the seventh rank.  Should he take a draw or should he play on.   You decide.   The position is as below.

k6r/2R2R2/2p3r1/8/1P6/2p5/P6P/7K w – - 5 46White to Play

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Whoopee!   100 Puzzles!   Not a record, but a small landmark perhaps.   How shall we celebrate?  Perhaps I’ll give you a really cute puzzle with only a few pieces on the board.

How do we go about successfully solving chess puzzles?   If they are composed problems, the solution is invariably to silliest looking move on the board.  I generally look first for a long queen move into a corner away from the action and often that’s  the solution!   In chess we train our brain to look for familiar patterns that we can recognise and hence cut down on the number of moves that we have to look at.  This is OK for easy puzzles – if you’ve seen one knight fork you have seen them all – but the more difficult puzzles often involve some counter-intuitive move.   Backwards moves for instance are very hard to find.   I recall one problem that I slaved over where Black had to retreat his Q from e5 back to h8 and I never found it.   My usual advice to look at all checks and captures works a lot of the time, but not always.   “Interference” solutions are difficult also.   I remember one beautiful Tony Miles game where White had rooks on e1 and e8 and a B on f6.   All three pieces were performing a valuable function so Miles solution was …Be5!! and no matter which White piece captured the free B on e5 it blocked one of the defensive functions that the pieces were performing and allowed Miles to win.   Not many people would have found that move.

Today’s puzzle is difficult also simply because the solution is counter-intuitive.  I solved it after a very long think and it was worth the effort because the solution is so pretty.   If you are a regular solver then you can help me celebrate by finding the solution quickly.   Good luck.

8/7k/5K2/8/5NR1/p7/8/5r2 w – - 0 1White to play and win

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