On Monday I left you with this position from Basman – Balshan (Ramat Hasharon 1980).

There were some excellent answers from members of our Whatsapp group, all of whom did better than Black (rated 2410 at the time) in the game.

The conclusion was 33… Re4? (A clever move, because 34. dxe4? Qg4+ is a perpetual, but he’d failed to spot White’s brilliant idea) 34. Rxg6! fxg6 35. Qh8+! Kxh8 36. Rf8#.

I think Anurag was the first to notice Mike Basman’s threat, which was missed in the game. Then Josh correctly identified that Black’s only good defence was 33… Qe7, which, according to Stockfish, is about equal.

Well done everyone! Solving calculation puzzles like this on a regular basis is a great way to improve your chess!

Here’s the complete game, featuring some typically creative opening play from the Shamble Maniac! As always, click on any move for a pop-up window.