Daily chess puzzle: Check Mate #475

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

White to play and mate Black

Larsen v Strauss, Lone Pine 1979

Solution

This puzzle took me a while, partly because I followed by habit of “if at first a line fails, try it again; and again”. I tried to make 1 Rh5+ work, but couldn’t, because it doesn’t- Black wins.

My engine tells me that 1 Rh7 wins: 1….Re4 2 Kh2 Rh4 3 Rg3+; or the cute but totally inhuman 2…Rf4

3 g4!!! Rf3 (Bf3 Rh5 mate) 4 Bf3  Bf3? (4…Kf4 1-0) 5 Kg3!!; but 1 Rh7 isn’t the best move, and after a lot of looking again and again at 1 Rh5??, I found 1 Rff4! and it is all over.

1…ef? 2 Rh5 is mate, and in the game Black played the better 1…g5 but Bent found 2 g3, when Black resigned.

FEN

8/1p2bp1p/p1bp1p2/4pPk1/P1r1P2R/2P2R1P/2P3P1/3B3K w – – 0 33