Black to Play

on May 13, 2013

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The material is even, and White has a very nicely posted knight; however, Black, in Pantzke-Pakula, 1955, played one move and White resigned! You’re Black. Your move!

Solution:

This is another example, and a great one, of checking out your “wish list” of moves. You look at all checks and captures, as we advise before each move, and see that 1....Bf4+ would be mate except for the pesky queen being able to take the bishop if it checks. However, that also means that that queen is also “glued” to f2 for that defensive purpose. So, you look around to see how you can affect that queen’s standing on that square. Black found it with 1...Qc2 and White resigned because of 2.Qxc2 [2.Ne4 Bxe4 3.Qxc2 Bf4#; 2.Nf5 Bf4+ 3.Ng3 hxg3# (3...Bxg3#) ] 2...Bf4# The additional feature of the queen also being pinned is quite nice.

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