Daily chess puzzle: Check Mate # 90

Another puzzle from Dragoslav Andric's 1981 book “Matni Udar”.

Black to play and mate White.

Popov v Riumin, Moscow 1925

Solution

Because this is a puzzle from a book, you 'know' the answer has to be 1…Rf3! 2 Bf3 Qf3+! 3 Kf3 (3 Kf1 is just a grovel). All you need to do is then work out 'what next'. In a game, of course, you don't know that the combination is winning, or even that it is there: it has to be looked for and calculated.

Fortunately it is not too hard.

3…Nd4++ 4 Kg4[] Bc8+ 5 Kh4[] Nf3 mate is a forced line.

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