Solution for July combinations

It is July, and it is not the month when you suppose to do the most of a work.
That´s why, dear reader, I did not published very hard combinations.
The purpose of these was to keep you a little with a chess board, or in the most cases the electronic (screen) version of it.
As most of you noticed, in the last period blog was lacking very serious articles about chess improvement, trainings and deep analysis.
This is of course just a temporary...




As soon as the second part of my season start I will continue with serious analysis and reports.
We can only hope that Michael de Verdier will continue with his contribution.
In my next article I will describe a little the course of my chess calendar so far, and my plans in let´s say next one and a half year.
In the meanwhile, we can look at the combinations:

In the endgames we need to use endgame techniques.
One of these is Zugzwang.

1. b8Q, Bxb8
2. Kb7!

This is the whole point. As soon as Black´s king run out of moves (that also attacks a6 pawn) it will be time for resignation.

2...Ka5
3. Bh4, Kb5
4. Be1!  1-0

In this example I asked you for some precision.

1. Nxd3, cxd3
2. f8R+, Bxf8
3. Nf7+, Kg8
4. Nh6+, gxh6 (forced, otherwise, it is perpetual)
5. Ke3, h5
6. Kxd3, h4
7. Ke2, h3
8. Kf2! (not 8. Kf3??, Bd6 9. Kf2, Bh2! 10. Kf3, h5 -+)
8...Bd6
9. Kg1 =

The key in this case is the knowledge of theoretical endgames.

1. Nb6, Kxa1
2. Na4, g4
3. h3! (not 3. Nc3??, h3-+)
3...g3+
4. Kxf3, kb1
5. Nc3+, Kb2
6. Nxa2, Kxa2
7. Kg2 =

This is a very nice example of positional draw, with extra rook for one side.

1. Bf6+, exf6
2. f4, Rh8+
3. Kg7!, Rxh5
4. a4, Rg5+
5. Kh8!, Rg6
6. Kh7, Kh5
7. Kh8, Rh6+
8. Kg7, Rg6+
9. Kh8 = 

At last, one example from the middlegame.
It is not possible to play 1...Rh2 because of 2. Qxf8+ and 
3. Re8#. Is it possible to decoy a knight?

1...Qa6+
2. Nxa6, Rh2

All right, there is no mate with Qxf8 but a simple move:

3. Qg5 wins for White.

So the right solution is:

1...g6!
2. f6 

White still wants to mate with Qxf8. But the problem now is that d8-g5 diagonal is intercept with a pawn.

2...Qa6+
3. Nxa6, Rh2!

...and mate on h1 in the next move.