Tactics

The game continued 1.Qh4 Rfe8 The only move, giving the King an escape square. 2.Qh7+ Kf8 Andy: “But now what? Is white actually winning? If so, how? This is the sort of position which is quite common after white has prised open black’s kingside with h4-h5-hxg6, so it is instructive to think how you would finish it off!” 3.Nxf7 Andy: “I expected 3…Kxf7, 4.Bxg6+ Kf8 5 Bxe8 when I think white is slightly better. But Fahim didn’t fancy this line and didn’t capture the knight. Instead he played 3…Rxd3 Now I got quite excited, spotting a neat variation.” After 4.Rxd3 Kxf7 we reach the postion in the 2nd diagram.

The 2nd part of the puzzle is to evaluate the move 5.Rxc6 in this position. Solution. For the 3rd part of the puzzle, scroll down the page a little (I have put a gap so it doesn’t spoil the answer to the 2nd part).

So, having seen that 5.Rxc6 doesn’t work, can you find the winning move instead? Solution.