Last Puzzle of the Decade in honor of SPICE’s winningest student!
SusanPolgar
White to move! Can you find the knockout punch for White?
SusanPolgar
White to move! Can you find the knockout punch for White?
Editor
It took me a while to recognize the actual mating pattern here- that pawn on c5 plays an actual role in probably the most critical line.
1.g5! Nh5 2.Re8+ Kg7 3.Rd8!
White is opening e8 for the knight or the other rook- the fork from f4 is irrelevant now:
3.....Nxf4+ 4.Kf3 Nxe2? 5.Ne8+ Kf8 6.Nf6+ Ke7 7.Re8#
So, at move 3, black has to open up a hole for his king with
3.....h6 4.Kf3 but now black can't deal with the twin threats of Ne8 or Ree8, and must lose at the very least, the exchange.