We're trying something a little different today; it's a "speed" problem with a much longer timing than usual, because the solution, while short and clever, may not be immediately obvious. We owe this one to regular contributor Josh Gordon of Toronto (that's definitely not Josh in the photo above).

We'll give you a full minute to solve it. Of course, master players won't need anything like that long, but ... well, we won't give it away. Click on the link below to display the problem and start the clock, then come back and click on Read More to see the solution.

March 2016 Timed Problem (medium difficulty)

Solution

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Draw

W:W25,21,13,12,7:BK26,19,15,3,1.

13-9---A 3x10 25-22 26x17 21x7 Drawn. Short and sweet if you saw the key move.

A---You'd think 7-2 would be best but it loses: 7-2 26-23 21-17 19-24 17-14 24-27 25-21 27-31 21-17 23-18 14-9 (14-10 18-14 Black wins) 15-19 9-5 19-23 13-9 23-27 17-13 (17-14 1-6 Black wins) 31-26 Black wins. White has no safe move.

Did you go down the 7-2 path or did you see the innocent-looking but clever 13-9? Either way, we're sure you'll agree that this is a nice problem. Thanks again, Josh!