The recent Dublin Blitz Championship 2020 (Gonzaga College, February 2) featured a game in which one player had the misfortune to resign in a position where he could force an almost immediate draw by stalemate. Well, these things happen: it’s not always easy to see everything on an increment of two seconds per move.
But there is an interesting puzzle buried within the game, regarding the diagrammed position:
6… ?
The game went 6… Ra4 7. Rc8, and now Black could have played the obvious enough 7… Rxa6+, since 8. Kxa6 is stalemate.
But if Black instead played 6… Rb5+!? in the diagrammed position, what would happen with best play? Does Black have a draw, or can White escape?
I freely admit I got this one wrong, even with much more than two seconds to think about it.
[Click to replay game (including solution)].
(See also the YouTube video of the finish.)
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