Black to Play
Pete Tamburro
on
Published in Chess Puzzles
Solution:
What you have to notice is that the White king, because of its placement on h1, is vulnerable to a back rank mate; thus, the White rook can’t move up the file because of the Black rook on c8. White’s first move, which has a bonus of threatening Qxg2 mate, is a dramatic way of rubbing it in: : From a game, Larsen-Ljubojevic, Milano, 1975
1...Qf2 2.Rg1 [2.Rxf2 Rc1+ 3.Qe1 Rxe1+ 4.Rf1 Rxf1#--a regular vacuum cleaner, that rook!] 2...Qxg2+ 3.Rxg2 Rc1+ 4.Qe1 Rxe1#
Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.