Steve Bennett passed this to us recently via Paul Habershon. Its from a newspaper column citing a game played by Sandy Cordon at the Hitchin Congress in 1983. It was referenced on this website, shortly after Sandy’s death, when Paul mentioned that Jim Plaskett had called it stunning, and I agree. I will reproduce a snip of the column (slightly dodgy quality for added authenticity!) here and then publish the position properly with the solution in the New Year.
Not many of us get to play this sort of combination in a game of skittles, let alone a congress! It’s Sandy (White) to play and win.
Good luck – first correct answer wins a mince pie!
I have taken the liberty of passing the link to this to Sandy’s daughter.
I’d love to know how much of the play from this position Sandy saw before playing his next move. The winning move “feels right” – but unless White sees his sixth move in the main line, he will simply be a rook down.
Qh6 should win.
to the three people who already replied: 1) there isn’t really a mince pie and 2) get back to work!
Perhaps Qh6+ (Kh8 Qxh7+ Kxh7 hxg+ Kg7 Rh7+ Kf8 g7+ winning) Kxh6 hxg6+ Kg7 Rh7+ Kf8 g7 mate.
At a cheeky glace on my work PC so could be wrong.
Qh6 . And I think white wins on all variants. No mater if black king takes queen or not.
Diego