23. ?
In the position at right it’s White to play: how should he continue?
The position arose in a casual consultation game played around 1887, probably somewhere in Dublin, between J. A. “Porterfield” Rynd (White) and John Morphy and George D. Soffe (consulting on Black), which recently appeared in Edward Winter’s Chess Notes (C.N. 9771, February 29, 2016).
[Click to replay the full game.]
There’s an interesting twist: a few days later Chess Notes, citing David McAlister, reported that there was a second game, between the same players, that had also reached the diagrammed position, as given by Rynd in Chess Monthly, July 1888, p. 347. See C.N. 9777, March 2, 2016, which has copies of both of the original articles.
[Click to replay the second game.]
It’s unclear what really happened. These are both given as “casual” games in the original articles, so perhaps after completion of one game, the players agreed to return to the diagrammed position to allow Morphy & Soffe to try a different defence.