Let’s see what you learned from our last puzzle. This is from the famous Fischer-Benko game in the 1963-64 US championship. Wow! It’s been 50 years…Black had just taken White’s bishop on d4 and threatens the knight.

Solution:

Fischer played 1.Rf6 Kg8 [ Benko, one of the top players in the world at the time would not play 1...Bxf6 2.e5, uncovering the mate threat on h7] 2.e5 h6 3.Ne2 [3.Rxd6 Qxe5] and Black Resigned as 3...Nb5 [3...Bxf6 4.Qxh6] 4.Qf5 ends it. Even though the pieces used and the position are different, the idea is the same: prevent Black from playing his f7 pawn to f5 as a defense. That’s what makes both these positions important. You may very well get a chance to put this idea into practice yourself. I’d love to hear from you if you do or ever have.

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.