Answer #1

White has a clear winning attack but how do we continue? Black also seems to be holding up fairly well, or so it seems …

1. Qg7+, Qxg7 2. fxg7+, Kg8 and now … 3. Ne7+ which forks the black king and rook, so white will simply be a rook ahead after taking on c8.

Answer #2

Black’s queen is centralised and has the potential to do some serious damage to white’s position. White’s bishops aren’t doing anything useful at the moment and it seems that white has left the a8-h1 diagonal completely open for black’s disposal.

1…Qg2+! 2. Kxg2, Nf4 ++ (“++” means double check)

3. Kg1, Nh3#

Answer #3

White’s queen is under attack but it seems that black’s king may also be in trouble. But how to get to the black king? If white moves the queen out of the way first, then black can defend against possible sacrifices by playing Kg6. So Steinitz (one of the great former world champions) was right in saying: “When a sufficient advantage has been obtained, a player must attack or the advantage will be dissipated“.

1. Nxg5+!, hxg5 2. Qxg5 (white is now threatening mate on g7), Ne8 (and black defends it)

So what to do from now. How can white continue the attack? The rook doesn’t seem to be doing anything so…

3. Rd6!! and because the black knight is overworked – having to defend both the g7 and d6 square – the rook comes into the attack with decisive effect. As a matter of fact, black MUST take the rook with queen in order to not get mated on h6 or g7. So white will simply be material ahead.

(The overworked e8-knight and multiple mates being threatened by white. So black is forced to lose material)