White to Play and Win

Pete Tamburro on Nov 19, 2009

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White is in a bind here. Black threatens 1...Rxh3+ 2.gxh3 Qxh3+ 3.Qh2 Qxh2 mate. Thus, White can't play 1.e8=Q as he gets mated. Boris Spassky figured a wild way to beat Viktor Korchnoi as Black, but there are actually two really great ways to win here. Pick one of the two and be proud!

Solution:

Spassky's brilliant answer was 1.Qh2 because if 1... Bxh2 2.e8Q Be5 3.Qxe5+ Kxg6 4.Qe6+ Qf6 5.Qg4+ Qg5 6.Qxf3 and will mate shortly. Another cute way would have been 1.e8N+ Kg8 2.Nf6+ Kg7 [2...Qxf6 3.gxf3] 3.Ng4 Rxh3+ 4.gxh3 Qxh3+ 5.Nh2 and Black can't mate. It would be too much to print all the lines here, but these two work the best and neither was obvious. This problem also demonstrated that interference theme again with the Qh2 move. Three different positions this week, but one central theme definitely worth knowing.

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.