WELCOME TO SATURDAY SOLVING!
Look for new puzzles here every two weeks. Each will include the answer to the previous position and a new one to ponder.
Today’s Saturday Solving bucks the trend of the last few problems. But before we get to that, here is the solution to last week’s position:
Indeed, many mating threats combined with the final march of the h pawn proved decisive. I found this endgame to be very elegant, and the fact that there turns out to be more than one solution doesn’t bother me too much. 🙂
The next position up for review comes from the Groningen 1993 tournament. Two up-and-coming stars entered a complicated struggle. After 21 moves this position arose (black to move):
Out of a complicated Rauzer, Shirov went for a very over-optimistic queen sacrifice. Kramnik missed a win on the last move and now has only two ways to parry the threatened mate. The move he played led to a draw. I find it somewhat intriguing that a year later, two 2300s reached the exact same position … and drew in the exact same way!
With that said, Kramnik had one way to win that he evidently missed. Can you find it?
Good luck, and feel free to submit your solution in the comments below!
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