No, the more interesting position what <white> should play on move 28.

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It seems that the common sense 28. Rf1 wins easily for white, for example 28.....Rd8 29. Qxb5 Rdd2 30. Qc5 Rxa2 31. Rxa2 Rxa2 32. b4.

Yeah, my eye was drawn there too, and I spent a moment trying to deflect the white queen from its defense of f2.

You gotta love Tal. By 18. ... e6, Tal already sees the e-file opening up. 20. ... Re8?! seems like a slip when Rd8 looks objectively better.

22. ... d5!? seems to play into White's hands since it sets off a series of tactical exchanges that favor White. But, in fact, it allows Black's queen to capture on f6 and it opens the e-file for his rook. Tal deems the loss of two pawns as more than acceptable for the attack on f2.

Up to this point, White seems to have gotten the better of Black. Moreover, Black has yet to even get a whiff of attack, but all that abruptly changes with the alarming 27. ... Re2!. All of a sudden, it's White staring at mate in two.

This is a fine example of Tal's play. Sure, it's questionable, but White must find a way to refute it. Therein lies the key. Still, my admiration for Tal aside, I chalk this one up to White blundering in the face of Re2!.

28. Qa7 is obviously better in that it doesn't blunder away the game, but White's task far from easy.

< AnalyzeThis: It seems that the common sense 28. Rf1 wins easily for white, for example 28.....Rd8 29. Qxb5 Rdd2 30. Qc5 Rxa2 31. Rxa2 Rxa2 32. b4.>

Take solace in the fact that you had to recognize the "Hook and Ladder Trick" upside-down. If you are White, you fall off the ladder and then ascend at CG.

Unlike some other chess sites, e.g., http://chess.emrald.net, CG does not reverse their FEN string in puzzle diagrams with "Black to move". The reversal has 2 advantages: (1) nobody ever wrongly assumes it is "White to move"; and (2) nobody ever has to "walk to the other side of the board" to play their position.

<28....?>

Due to being pointless, as this is actually only used on CG, I will remove the White and Black positions prior to the puzzle move.

Material: /+\ 2

Candidates: Qxf2†, <[Re1†]>

-ML-
<28....Re1†!> it is the defensive triangle of White that allows this combination: a1 defends e1, e1 defends both d4 and a1 and the Queen defends both Rooks. However, the Queen is defended only once, as the Rook on a1 cannot recapture on d4. This allows the key move, as:

/A\
<29.Rxe1 Qxd4 > leads to Black being up Queen for Rook. Nonetheless, what does the move threaten if White interposes or moves away? After all, e1 is defended twice and cannot be the target, nor is a1 which isn't even attacked. But hey, it's skewered to the Black Rook, and if we capture on d4, the interposing piece disappears, and the second defender...

Aronian vs Svidler, 2006

Fittingly, that was in the Tal Memorial.

Looks what happens if you don't remember Tal...

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!