Thanks for pointing that out! That has to be one of the most devious little traps I've ever seen. A poisoned knight fork. I hope Vera shook her head sadly and sighed after she made the move, maybe muttered under her breath "oh nooo..." or, "ooops..." -- Upon my word that is a dreadful here's-a-pointless-blunder looking move and the combinatorial sting it conceals is quite hard to find. Ms. Menchik was on her game that day! I wonder if Book sensed the trap but couldn't find it... I mean there's really no reason to push that pawn <except> to allow the knight fork.

And the way Menchik seals the win nabbing the kingside pawns with the N sac allowed by the multi-faceted Queen fork... Wow she's seeing deep and clear. Awesome creative tactics.

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Specifically, white's immediate threat is Bg6, skewering queen and rook.

Black also had to keep his rook on the e file, in order to avoid Be6, pinning and winning black's queen.

Instead, he took the bait.

34 ...Qf6 or Re5 would have held.

Good lord, I didn't play through the game to that point just looked at b3 and went wow... but with that skewer just sitting there? to play b3!!! that's really odd... I feel like there must be more I'm missing in this position... I just can't believe someone would prefer the trappy b3 (or find it)... <ahhhh wait it's all becoming clear>... the b3 push is what makes the skewer possible. Prior to b3 white answers Bg6 with Qxf2+, the b3 push isn't an unobvious move at all! ... the b3 push lets the Queen defend f2 establishing the skewer as a threat, as Jim's diagram shows.

Oh this makes _much_ more sense!

<There's more in chess than making good moves. How you make them can sometimes make a huge difference. This was first impressed on me a long time ago. I was watching a game between Vera Menchik, then women's champion of the world, playing Finland's leading player, Eero Böök, in the Margate international of 1938.

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Here each had seven moves to make before the time control. For these seven moves Miss Menchik had barely 5 minutes, Böök a good 20. It was Miss Menchik to move.

I became more and more puzzled as she gazed and gazed at the board, with all the signs of increasing agitation, yet not making a move, while minutes ticked away. At last, with only a few seconds left for six more moves, she came to life:

34 P-QN3!?

Böök , who had been strolling around, came back to the board, sat down, surveyed the situation briefly, played the obvious

34 ... N-B6

rose again and, as he walked past me, murmered [sic] “Zeitnot!” indicating, in the German which we had found to be our best common language, that the good lady had blundered through shortage of time. But she had already replied:

35 Q-B2!

Now it was Böök’s turn to exhibit all the signs of agitation. After using up almost the whole of his remaining time, he decided to take the rook.

35 ... NxR

Vera Menchik’s next five moves came like bursts from a machine gun, well within those few seconds.

[...]

By playing 34 P-N3, White protected her KBP, so renewing the threat of B-N6.

Had she played 34 P-N3 in a normal way Böök would undoubtedly have examined 34...N-B6 calmly in the ample time at his disposal and noticed the pitfall.

By running within seconds of losing on time, Vera tempted him into overconfidence and increased the tension - it is notorious how often a player who is not in time trouble gets more excited than an opponent who is.

Undoubtedly her slight gesture of annoyance completed the build-up.>