White to Play
Published in Chess Puzzles
The position you see before you happens somewhat frequently in amateur chess out of a variety of openings. It's never exactly the same, but the idea of Black pinning the knight and attacking the horse twice means that Black wants to either double White's pawns or just exchange off pairs of pieces to make the position simpler. White doesn't want either of those things to happen, so what do you do here?
Solution:
One of the oldest tricks in the book of chess, but very effective is 1.Nxe5! Bxd1 2.Bb5+ c6 3.dxc6 (with the terrible threat of 4.cxb7+) a6 (not much else to do) 4.c7+ axb5 5.cxd8=Q+ Rxd8 6.Nxd1 and White has won a piece and should win the game that much material up. The pin on the knight was illusory because of White's ability to take Black's knight. It's an important concept for beginners to be aware of.
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