The first moves are forced and black appears to be busted. The king however proves surprisingly difficult to hunt down! [Result "*"] [FEN "1k2q3/8/4N3/8/2Q5/3K4/8/8 w - - 0 1"] [SetUp "1"] 1.Qc7+ Ka8 2.Qa5+ Kb7 (2...Kb8 3.Qb6+ {is simple as either the knight or queen will land on c7 next move, winning immediately}) 3.Nc5+ Kb8 (3...Kc6 4.Qa4+ {wins the queen, as does}) (3...Kc8 4.Qa8+) 4.Qb6+ Kc8 5.Qb7+ Kd8 {So far, so good, but how is white to make progress now? If he checks on the back rank then the king goes to e7 and wriggles out of trouble. The key to this position is in realising that black is virtually in <i>zugzwang</i>. Apart from giving queen checks he has no moves that do not allow a checkmate. With this in mind, it becomes easier to find and appreciate white’s next move, which decides the game on the spot!} 6.Kd2$1 {A fine move! The white king calmly retreats, avoiding any checks from the black queen. The black king cannot move and the black queen has only one safe square from which she can keep guarding the d7 square, but then…} 6...Qe7 7.Qb8+ {…unfortunately for black the king’s only flight square is now occupied and it is checkmate. A neat end to a nice study on how to use a queen and knight together to attack the king!} * You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
