White to Play

Pete Tamburro on Jun 16, 2008

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Note: In the previous puzzle, I sent the diagram in with Black on the bottom, forgetting that the numbers and letters of the coordinates wouldn't change along with it.

Another classic position from Flohr-Saemisch, 1929.

Solution:

We again give the whole game . It's very instructive to see how to use the rook pawn as a battering ram against a castled position.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.a3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 0–0 6.e3 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.Nge2 Nbd7 10.Ng3 Ne8 11.h4 g6 12.Bh6 Ng7 13.h5 f5 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.Qf3 c6 16.Nce2 Bd6 17.0–0–0 Qf6 18.Rh3 Kf7 19.Bxg7 Qxg7 20.Bxf5 Nf6 [20...gxf5 21.Nxf5 Qf6 22.Nxd6+ Ke7 23.Rh7+ Kxd6 24.Qg3+ Ke6 25.Nf4+ Kd6 26.Nxd5+ Kxd5 27.e4+ Ke6 28.Qg4+ Kd6 29.Rxd7#] 21.Nf4 Bxf4 22.Qxf4 Rae8 23.Rdh1 Kg8

And now our solution:

24.Rh8+ Qxh8 25.Rxh8+ Kxh8 26.Qh6+ Kg8 27.Qxg6+ Kh8 A little more accurate would be Nh5 right away, according to the chess engine: 28.Qh6+ [28.Nh5 Re7 29.Nxf6 Rxf6 30.Qxf6+ Kg8 31.Qxe7 Bc8 32.Bh7+ Kh8 33.Bg6 Kg8 34.Qf7+ Kh8 35.Qh7#] 28...Kg8 29.Nh5 and White won as after: 29...Rf7 30.Nxf6+ Rxf6 31.Qxf6 Bc8 32.Bxc8 Rxc8 33.Qe6+ Kf8 34.Qxc8+ is overwhelming.

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.