Black threatens mate on h2, so White cannot afford to dawdle.

34. Re8+

Looks like the only viable candidate. Black has two legal moves.

a) 34...Bf8 35. Rxf8+ Kxf8 (35...Kh7 36. Qd3+ wins the Rook; 35...Kg7 36. Rxf7+ wins the Queen) 36. Nf5+ Kg8 (36...Ke8 37. Qe7#; 36...Rc5 37. Rd8#; 36...Qb4 37. Rd8#) 37. Qf8+ Kxf8 (37...Kh7 38. Qg7#) 38. Rd8#

b) 34...Kh7 35. Qd3+ wins the Rc2. Fortunately this was easier to work out that variation "a"!

Eighteen minutes. That's quite tough for a Friday, I think. The first few moves were obvious, but a lot of variations to consider and 37. Qf8! took me a few minutes to find.

The threat of 34...Qh2# means that white must deal in forcing moves. And the only one to get us underway is...

34 Re8+ Bf8

On 34...Kh7, white picks up the remaining black rook with 35 Qd3+ and 36 Qxc2.

White's turn again, must continue with forcing moves. What's available? Only...

35 Rxf8+ Kxf8

Black could try 35...Kg7, but after 36 Ne8+ the black king would have to move to a light square allowing the fork mentioned above.

36 Nf5+

This time the knight gives a nice discovered check and covers g7 at the same time.

36...Kg8

Not 36...Rc5 37 Rd8#. But now it's mate in two.

37 Qf8+!

Black has two moves, after...

37...Kxf8 38 Rd8#

or

37...Kh7 38 Qg7#

Positionally Black has a 1-mate. So no time for White to dissemble. He does not have even one idling move; every move has to be a check - until mate.

Way to think:

If Black K were to be at f8 and White N could be put on f5 (with a an accompanying check, of course), the N will block e7 and g7. Black's f7 P self-blocks the K to ensure a kind of back rank mate by <any> White heavy piece.

White clearly has the goods in place to achieve just that, w/o letting go of the check.

So here it goes;

<34. Re8+ Bf8 35. Rxf8+ Kxf8 36. Nf5+ Kg8 (Ke8 is ruin) 37. Qf8+ Kxf8 38. Rd8#>

click for larger view

b

Its a beautiful combination, a long one w/o doubt but not so hard to conceive. I am falling in love with <CG>'s grand POTD show; its going like a caravan these days.

White is one move away from being checkmated on h2. He can do nothing except attack:

34.Re8+
<if....Kh7 35.Qd3+ f5 36.Qxc2 and the threat of checkmate is eliminated>

34...........Bf8
35.Rxf8+ Kxf8
<if King declines...Kg7 36.Ne8+ Kg6 37.Qd3+ Kh3 38.Qxc2 and again mate threat is eliminated>

36.Nf5+ Kg8
37.Rd8+ Kh7
38.Rh8+ Kxh8
39.Qf8+ Kh7
40.Qg7#

<if at move 38 the King declines taking the Rook, the game will follow thus:

We watch Indiana Jones or Angelina Jolie raiding tombs and we marvel at how they manage to dodge all the traps. Even Nicholas Cage had to get into the act too, as if to prove that a country only five minutes old also has its history and implausible national treasures.

But nobody ever stops to think about the poor bloke who sets those traps. So let's rewind the clock to many hundreds of years ago...

High Priest Imhotep is having an urgent conversation with Tuti, his trapmaker.

Imhotep: "No, no, no. I want the golden statue to sit here on a stone plinth. And here, here and here I want blow darts. Poison blow darts. Set off by stones that you step on."

Or in chess terms: if 34...Kh7 35. Qd3+

Tuti: "Your wish is my command, o venerable one. But the cleaners have complained about the blow darts in the other treasure chamber. We have lost three of them during the weekly dusting of the jewels."

Imhotep: "Do not bother me with details, artisan! Next I want a giant ball that rolls along the corridor to crush anyone who would steal our most precious artefacts."

Or: if 35...Kh7 36. Rxf7+ forks black king and queen.

Tuti: "A giant ball eh? Leaving aside the fact that it will also annoy the cleaners, and it will only stop the first tomb raider, there's a little problem that we haven't invented electricity yet. So how exactly are we going to trigger said trap?"

Imhotep: "You are starting to annoy me, little man. Next I want a room where the ceilings and walls come together to crush with spikes. Saw that one in the Temple of Doom. Very nice."

Or: 37...Kxf8 38. Rd8#

Tuti: "We're a primitive civilization that largely relies on gravity and bits of string. And you want me to invent something that is going to need hydraulics and complex gears...?"

Imhotep: "That is my wish."

<34 Re8+ ...>

34 ... Bf8
35 Rxf8+ Kxf8
36 Nf5+ Kg8
37 Qf8+!!! Kxf8
38 Rd8#

<34 ... Kh7>
<35 Qd3+ f5>
<36 Qxc2 Qf3+>
<37 Kg1 ...>

<34Re8+ Bf8> 34...Kh7 35Qd3+ loses the R <35Rxf8+ Kxf8> there's the alignment

<36Nf5+> sets up the equivalent of back rank mate, with just 1 pawn, nice!

<36...Ke8 37Qe7#> more likely

You do like bear-bating don't you!

:-)

so, <34.Re8+> if for no other reason, its the only check for white

This forces <34...Bf8> since 34...Kh7 is met by 35.Qd3+ forking the rook

Same situation, White must keep checking, so <35.Rxf8+>

This forces <35...Kxf8> since 35...Kg7 allows 36.Rxf7+ winning Blacks Queen

Same situation, White must keep checking, so <36.Nf5+>

This forces <36...Kg8> since 36...Ke8 is met by 37.Qe7 mate (also, 36...Qb4 is met by 37.Rd8 mate)

Same situation, White must keep checking, but now he has two checks to choose from:

First <37.Rd8+> seems strong after <37...Kh7 38.Rh8+! Kg6 39.Rxh6+ Kxf5 40.Qd3+> but <40...Qe4+> saves Black

click for larger view

The only remaining check is <37.Qf8+>, but this last check wins as mate is forced with either reply by Black:

click for larger view

If 37...Kh7 then 38.Qg7 mate,

or 37...Kxf8 38.Rd8 mate

I normally just go to a few games of a player that I'm interested in and say something like, <"29. ?" would make a great Thursday puzzle> in the game comments; but to this day I've yet to see them selected. And trust me, I know my puzzles!

Therefore, how can I make sure that they get my suggestion?