Even if you’re relatively new to chess, someone may have shown you a position similar to this where 1.Bxh7+ followed by 2.Ng5+ leads to mate after 3.Qh5, but does that work here?

Solution:

This position was culled from Capablanca’s Last Lectures. He gives a twist to this old theme by alertly solving the problem of the knight being unprotected if it goes to g5. He makes a threat on Black’s bishop to improve his position and defend g5. So, even if you haven’t got the exact position you need, you should look for ways to create it: 1.Qd5 Nc6 2.Bxh7+ Kxh7 [Black can squirm with 2...Kh8 3.Qh5 Re8 4.Bg6+ Kg8 5.Bxf7+ Kf8 6.Bg6 Qd7 7.Qh8+ Ke7 8.Qh4+ Kf8 9.Qf4+ Kg8 10.Ng5 Ne5 11.Bh7+ Kh8 12.Bf5 Qc6 13.Qh4+ Kg8 14.Qh7+ Kf8 15.Qh8+ Ke7 16.Qxg7+ Kd8 17.Qf6+ Re7 18.Ne6+ Ke8 19.Qf8+] 3.Qh5+ Kg8 4.Ng5 Re8 [Another squirmy line is 4...Qxg5 5.Qxg5 Bb6 6.h4 Re8 7.h5 Re5 8.Qg4 Nd4 9.Qc8+ Kh7 10.Rd1 Ne6 11.Qxb7 Re2 12.Qf3 Rxa2 13.Qxf7 Rxf2 14.Qg6+ Kh8 15.Kh1 Nf8 16.Qb1 Ne6 17.Rf1 Rxf1+ 18.Qxf1 Nc5 19.Qf7 Nd3 20.Qf8+ Kh7 21.Qf5+] 5.Qxf7+ Kh8 6.Qh5+ Kg8 7.Qh7+ Kf8 8.Qh8+ Ke7 9.Qxg7#

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