White to Play
Pete Tamburro
on
Published in Chess Puzzles
Continuing our “miniature” series, and this one tests your alertness. A game between Loginov and Sideifzade in 1983.
Solution:
If you didn’t solve this, you need to learn to think in terms of what you want to happen. In this position, you would love to play 1.Rc8 mate, but the Black queen is pinning your rook. How, then, do you deflect the queen off the pinning diagonal? 1.Qa4 and Black Resigned. There were other ways that took longer, but this way was by far the best. The deflection theme occurs quite frequently in chess, so it’s always a good idea to be alert to it.
Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.
