Black to Play
Pete Tamburro
on
Published in Chess Puzzles
White seems to have it all together here. He’s a pawn up—and a passed pawn at that! His queen and bishop are guarding their monarch, and the White rook, though unprotected, sits on a1 secure in the knowledge that if the Black queen takes the rook, the White queen will take Black’s. Unfortunately, there is a flaw in White’s confident thinking. Can you find it?
Solution:
Black can take the rook! The weakness on the diagonal decides the game after 1...Qxa1 2.Qxf4 Qa8+. A chess writer years ago called this an airplane check—an apt phrase.
Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.
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