Black's Queen
If Black's Queen were standing on c5 instead of b5 he could avert
the mate by moving the Rook f8 and playing the Queen to f8
thereby protecting g7.
The mate with Rook and Knight demonstrated by the position of
Diagram 28 is liable to occur in several variations of the play
which might result from the following situation:
White starts his mating attack with (1) Kt-f6. This threatens the
sacrifice of the Queen on h6 followed by R-g8 mate. White's
Knight move can hardly be called a sacrifice as it is quite
evident that Black cannot take the Knight on account of Qxh6+,
Kt-h7; Q-g7 mate. The only way to parry White's threat is (1)
..., Kt-g6.
However, this helps only momentarily as White
continues (2) R-h3 threatening Q-g5, Rxh6+ and Qxh6 mate, a
threat against which Black has no defense. White can very nearly
force the mate by sacrificing his Queen on h6 instead of the
Rook.
But after (3) Qxh6, Pxh6; (4) Rxh6+, K-g7; (5) R-h7+, K-f8;
(6) R-h8+ Black does not take the Rook as White would like him to
do to enable the mate R-g8, but he goes back to g7 with the King
and White could not do any better than draw by perpetual check on
h7 and h8.
+---------------------------------------+
8 | #R | | | | | #R | #K | |
|---------------------------------------|
7 | #P | #P | | | | #P | #P | #P |
|---------------------------------------|
6 | | | #Kt| | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
5 | | #Q | | #P | ^P | ^P | | |
|---------------------------------------|
4 | | | #P | | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
3 | | | | | | | ^Q | |
|---------------------------------------|
2 | ^P | ^P | | ^B | | | ^P | ^P |
|---------------------------------------|
1 | ^R | | | | | ^R | | ^K |
+---------------------------------------+
a b c d e f g h
DIAGRAM 34.
+---------------------------------------+
8 | | | | #R | | #Kt| | #K |
|---------------------------------------|
7 | #P | #B | #Q | | #R | #P | #P | |
|---------------------------------------|
6 | | #P | | | #P | | | #P |
|---------------------------------------|
5 | | | #P | | ^P | | | ^Q |
|---------------------------------------|
4 | | | ^B | ^P | ^Kt| | ^R | |
|---------------------------------------|
3 | | | ^P | ^R | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
2 | ^P | | | | | ^P | ^P | ^P |
|---------------------------------------|
1 | | | | | | | ^K | |
+---------------------------------------+
a b c d e f g h
DIAGRAM 35.
|
