In, this, our last week of chess summer school, we will be concluding with three positions from the great chess teacher of the early 20th century, Siegbert Tarrasch. He was the greatest tournament player of the late 19th century as well. Our second example is a great lesson in how a trapped king with a rook never moved on h8 can be deadly for the defense. Even though there is no check available White can mate in four or five moves. Let’s see which one you can find.

Solution:

White threatens mate on f6 on the first move with a knight move and neither 1.Ne4 Nd7 2.exd7+ Qc4 3.Qxc4+ Rf7 4.d8Q# nor 1.Ne4 Qf4 2.Qxb8+ Re8 3.Qxe8+ Qf8 4.Qxf8# can avoid the mate. The other knight move works, too: 1.Ne8 Qf4 [1...Nd7 2.exd7+; 1...Rxe8 2.e7+ Qc4 3.Qxc4#] 2.Nf6+ Qxf6 3.Qxb8+ Re8 4.Qxe8+ Qf8 5.Qxf8#

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