Anytime there are no pieces in front of a castled king position (even worse: none on either side of the king), you have to be aware of a mating attack against that king. Today’s position was from a US Open in 1946, and White found the right way to win.

Solution:

The game was Seidman,Herbert - Kramer,Haije [C80] US op Pittsburgh, 1946 and started out like this: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Nxe4 6.Qe2 Nc5 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.d4 Ne6 9.dxe5 Be7 10.Nc3 0–0 11.Be3 d5 12.exd6 cxd6 13.Rad1 Qc7 14.Rfe1 d5 15.Na4 Rb8 16.c4 dxc4 17.Qxc4 c5 18.Nc3 Rxb2 19.Nd5 Qa7 20.Bc1 Rb7 21.Ne5 Bd8 22.Nc6 Qa8 23.Nxd8 Rxd8 and now finished with: 24.Nf6+ gxf6 25.Rxd8+ Nxd8 26.Re8+ Kg7 27.Qf4 Black Resigns. It’s a little more complicated than that. Here is a complete analysis starting from our diagram: 1.Nf6+ gxf6 2.Rxd8+ Nxd8 [2...Kg7 3.Qh4 h5 4.Qxh5 Ng5 5.Ree8 f5 6.Qxg5+ Kh7 7.Rh8#; 2...Nf8 3.Rxf8+ Kg7 4.Qf4 Kg6 5.Rg8+ Kh5 6.Qh6#] 3.Re8+ Kg7 4.Qf4 Kg6 [4...Ne6 5.Qh6#] 5.Qh6+ Kf5 6.Qg5+

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