Daily chess puzzle: Check Mate #136

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

White to play and mate Black

Vidmar v Adam, corres 1037

Solution

With mate threatened on b2, White has to do something drastic, meaning checks, and with the chance of Black’s King slipping away to the d file and then c8 or even c6, something has to be done.

After examining the normal checks like 1 Qg7+ and 1 Nf5+, and finding them wanting (and Fritz confirms that all moves lose except for the solution) I found the decoy 1 Re4+! and saw immediately that ‘it worked’. And a bit of analysis on each of Black’s several defences proved it.

1…Re4 2 Qd5! is elegant: hitting the LPDO Re4, threatening 3 Qf7 mate, and if 2…Re6, the Q still reaches f7 via 3 Qd7+;

1…Be4 2 Qg7+ Ke6[] and either 3 Qg4+ or 3 Qf7+ start a check-check-check king hunt;

1..Kd7 or 1…Kd8, 2 Qd5+, and the best Black can do is 2…Qd6, when 3 Qb5+ or 3 Qf7+ win the Queen.

FEN

4r3/ppp1k3/5p1N/n2b2Q1/1qp3R1/8/PP2rPPP/2KR4 w – – 0 1