After your move <36.e6> Rb7 is hanging.

My line goes 36.Rxe7 Kxe7 37.e6 Bxc3 38.Rxf7+ Kxe6 39.Rxh7 Bf6 with a defendable endgame.

This is an interesting sort of position. At first glance, White's advantage is minimal; Black's sole weakness appears to be his rather congested minor pieces.

Then we note points, and experience points to a focus: g7. This is a matter of vectors.

We already have one rook bearing down on the target square vertically, and the other is poised to line up against it horizontally.

Since this *is* a puzzle, the first thought is to sacrifice the exchange. But this doesn't work out after (a) 34. Rxg7?, Kxg7 35. e6†, f6 36. Rb7†, Kg8, when White has nothing and plenty of it.

But now another idea comes: What, then, if we reverse the order of rook moves?

<<•> 34. Rb7! ... >

This isn't a spectacular sacrifice, although it does offer a pawn. But does Black really threaten to take it?

< (1) 34. ...Rxa2†?!
35. Kb3, Ra6 >

Also possible is (b) 35. ...Rf2 36. Rf4, Rd3 37. R4xf7†, Ke8 38. Rxg7, R2xf3 39. Rb8†, Rd8 40. Rxd8†, Kxd8 41. Rxh7 , when White has an extra piece.

< 36. e6 >

This move is cyanide. Black perishes after (c) 36. ...Bxc3? 37. Rxf7†, Ke8 38. Rg8†, Nf8 39. Rgxf8#, (d) 36. ...Nf6 37. Rxf7† (also good is 37. e7†), (e) 36. ...Rd3 37. Rxf7†.

This seems to suggest that Black doesn't have time to grab the pawn, so what else can he do?

< (2) 34. ...Re6?! >

This is meant to stop the tactics by holding back White's e-pawn. But it allows

< 35. Rxa7 >

Having offered an a-pawn, White now wins one of the same. This outside passed pawn might or might not suffice to bring home the victory, but White has another threat that will force material off the board advantageously: 36. Rf4.

Combined, these advantages in the hands of a Kasparov are daunting.

< (3) 34. ...Re8 >

This is intended to stop White's e6 without losing the a-pawn.

< 35. Rxg7, Kxg7
36. e6†, Kg6
37. Rxf7, Nf8 >

Not (f) 37. ...Raxe6?/Rexe6? 38. Rg7† and White wins a piece.

< 38. Ne5†, Kh5
39. Rf5†, Kxh4
40. Rxf8! >

White wins a piece after 40. ...Rxf8 41. Ng6†

Sometimes the merit of the first idea can be seen only in the outcome of the second.

But in all cases, to the vector goes the spoils.

demonstrate g7 and f7 the targets one ford 34.rb7 river breached connecting rooks to show in lovely beating a path to his door 34...Rxa2+ low since 35.Kb3 advance off bet fairs better do the slide,

35...re6 mind find mean 34...re6 must be the reason energy in spades lop grace 35.Rxa7 and alf fall it is hope in railing us again hive mind in flurry it on the cards for white a spoonful of sugar field,

cain exactly it rookxa2+ king bin cinch 35.Kb3 clouded judge see ko in us wall ace greek 35...ra6 cough a lunge off incredible officer in fetch e6 chicken coop era white wins a piece staff in g7,

time trivial one together advantage state of mind dibble got one apostle in c3 aim creedence ogle five alive (rook aim dead) juice off manage,

36...Rxe6 re you in ecumen g7 time free in general stipulate again empty road in got rook globule,

We can see the clever mate threat after the text 36 e6.

click for larger view

Notice that black cannot exchange bishops, with 36…Bxc3?? because of 37 Rxf7+, with forced mate.

click for larger view

That why white had to play Rb7 before e6.

The best defense I found was 34...Re6, followed by 35 Rxa7 Rde8 36 Rc7 and white will be up two pawns.

click for larger view

The lemniscate is a placeholder, intended to put some whitespace under the last line of my posts.

Credit where it's due: I got the idea from my old friend and adversary <Pinned Piece>, although he uses a period.

However, I'll admit that I'm also rather fond of the infinity symbol and have used it as a "trademark" in some other contexts (such as in the titles of pages on my site), so I suppose you *could* also think of it as a kind of signature.

(It occurs to me that this makes it a "dual-purpose" symbol, which will doubtless trigger an investigation to see if it can be used to manufacture WMDs.)