Friday chess puzzle #2: solution

I was surprised how quickly some of you solved last week's Friday puzzle from Asztalos vs Ban, Budapest 1956:



Obviously White can win Black's queen for his rook, but to win the game he also needs to get his king to the fourth rank first. So, the solution is:

1 Rh2+

Now:

1 ... Kg7; 2 Rg2+ Kany; 3 Rxg8 Kxg8; 4 Kg2 and the king reaches c4 with a straightforward win (see Chess Improvement #3: Your endgame databank).

But, Black has a clever defensive try:

1 ... Qh7;

Now:

2 Qxh7+ would be a mistake, as after 2 ... Kxh7, the Black king reaches c5 with the opposition, i.e. 3 Kg2 Kg6; 4 Kf3 Kf5; 5 Ke3 Ke5; 6 Kd3 Kd5; 7 Kc3 Kc5 with a standard drawn position

However, White can still win: 2 Kg2! and again the White king gets to c4 with a straightforward win: e.g. 2 ... Qxh2+; 3 Kxh2 Kg7; 3 Kg3 Kf6; 4 Kf4 Ke6; 5 Ke4 etc. or 2 ... Kg7; 3 Rxh7+ Kxh7; 3 Kf3

Stay tuned for this Friday's puzzle.