Chess Puzzle of the Week (78)

We’re currently running tournaments on Tuesday evenings on lichess.org and on Thursday evenings on chess.com. Do come and join in the fun.

https://lichess.org/team/rtcc

https://www.chess.com/club/rtcc

The Tuesday sessions in particular are pretty strong.

Here’s a position from one of my games this week.

puzzle78

 

Play went 17. g4 Nh4 18. Qf4 when I blundered horribly: 18… Qd5?? 19. Nf6+.

I have two questions:

  1. What is White’s best move in the diagrammed position?
  2. What would have been my best move instead of 18… Qd5?

Two clues: neither move leads to a forced win, just to an advantage, and the two moves have something in common.