Material: Even. The White Be5 and Nf5 have a focused attack on Pg7. The Rd1 and Re1 have open files, and Qh3 can join a K-side attack. White has the local superiority required for a sacrificial K-side attack. All White pieces are active.

Candidates (26.): Qh6

26.Qh6 (threatening 27.Qxg7#)

There are 2 pieces supporting the attack on Pg7, and no way to defend it. Black must capture to avoid 27.Qxg7#.

20.Nxd4 leads to carnage (20.Rfe1+ is Fritz's main line, with a slight increase in evaluation for White, though the two moves can transpose). Wherever Black's Q moves, White will have a decisive follow-up.

A sample line is 20.Nxd4 Qc5 21.Ndb5 (threatening mate) Be7 (trying to avoid Rfe1+) 22.Qd7+ Kf8 23.Qb7 winning the R and the game.

Makes you wonder how much of this Kontronias had as home preperation? He makes a number of best moves in the ensuing complications many of them not terribly intuitive. For instance, 18. Qh3 to avoid Nf5 after Bxd4 or 24. b4.

The other way to find the solution is to look for the most forcing moves on the board. Each of the three checks clearly goes nowhere, so let's look for a move that threatens mate in one ... and that leads us to Qh6.

I'm threatening 27.Bxf8, but also 27.Bf6 and 28.Nh6#.

I figured that black has to defend with 28...Qc6, and then I have 29.c3 (protecting my rook with attack) Bc5 30.Bxf8 Rxf8 winning the exchange with still a good attack.

Checking my work, I discovered that, not only did I miss a (virtual) mate-in-2, but black had 28...Bxe1, and 29.Bf6 Rfd8. Now 30.Qh6 (threat:Qg7#) is answered by 30...Bxf2+ followed by perpetural checks. :-(

And here I was thinking, "Gee, this is hard for a Tuesday", lol.

Ah, so 16...b6 prevents a nasty royal fork. Can I save my minor pieces now? Hmm. 17.Rad1. Guess not. But at least after 17...d4 18.Bxd4 exd4 19.Rxd4 I get two pawns for my piece instead of one.

Okay, there's 17...d4. We'll play on and see if we can recover somehow. Wait, 18.Qh3? Huh? What? Why am I giving up a pawn? I can't mate on d7 with Black's queen there! Well, at least after 18...dxe3 19.fxd3 I'll have an open f-file for my rook. And Black can't castle queenside, not that he was going to anyway.

Black did what? 18...Nc8? Huh? I'll get a pawn back! I guess trying to castle is more important than a pawn, as well as getting that knight on b5 to leave. Time to play 19.Bxd4 and cut my losses.

19...Nd6?! Really? He didn't see my bishop? My knight on b5 is that important? He didn't want to get the bishop out yet? Okay...

Woah, things can become too easy after CG acknowledges to have chosen a too hard puzzle the day before.

-ML-
<26.Qh6!>
Exclamation mark, I don't know. It's a plain single mate threat on one square that can't be defended. There are two supporters of the Queen on the attacked square of which only one can be taken out (the Bishop with f6), but that won't work as the Knight would allow Qxg7‡. The attacker can be taken out, however, but this allows a new mate.

<26....Qf1†>
Prolonging, only. Black is getting mated anyway.

<27.Kxf1 gxh6>
Anything else, as said above, would allow Qxg7‡ now. No prolonging here by Black, however, as now the Knight on f5 and Bishop on e5 will work flawlessly to form the mating net that allowed Qh6. f8 is covered by the Black Rook, f7 and h7 by Black pawns, g7 and h8 are covered and need protecting by only one of the pieces mentioned earlier which is the Bishop, so only the square the King is on (g8) needs to be attacked, without any possible interposions or captures. Nuff said.

This Mate would be impossible without the removal of the g7 pawn, so in an end game where this Mate is likely to occur, the White King could not provide the clearance that his White Queen performs.

Yes it was for one very brief moment; however, it was not too difficult-as I was not playing the game. Salutations to you as well.

I realize you already know this but this is the recognized mating pattern I use and <Geronimo>.might use. The standard K+B+N vs. K mate is the same as this game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop...

:)

<I realize you already know this but this is the recognized mating pattern I use and <Geronimo> might use.>

Two Minor Piece Mates are:
a) Two Bishop Mate
b) Bishop and Knight Mate
c) Two Knight Mate

Many people, lots of their time, and many books provided this fundamental information some years ago. To all I am thankful.

There should be many examples on this website ,but I have not made a specific search.

Now I have become tedious and will climb back in my den.

The point is that black left his king in the middle of the board for quite some time. And the standard recipe for attacking the uncastled king is rapid development and open lines against the king, even if that means sacrificing pieces and pawns.

By the time that black does manage to get castled, white has a positional advantage due to his command of space and better development. That allows the mating combination of today's puzzle.