I’m currently reading this book (my review will be appearing shortly) in which I came across the game Kupreichik – Radulov (Plovdiv 1980). This position was reached after Black’s 20th move.

The game continued 21. d6! Bxd6 22. Nxd6 Qxd6 23. Ne4! (the immediate Qxf6+ was good, but this is better) 23… Qc7 and now the immediate Nxf6 enables Black to put up some sort of resistance with the diagonal defence Qxc2. Kupreichik, a consummate tactician, preferred 24. Rf5!, offering a rook to block the diagonal.

Now after exf5 comes Nxf6, when Qxh7# cannot be prevented. So Black tried 24… Rg8 25. Nxf6 Rg7 26. Rg5! before resigning, having seen that 26… Rdg8 allows the nice finish 27. Qxh7!+ Rxh7 28. Rxg8# – the always pleasing Arabian Mate.

If your calculation and visualisation skills are good (mine aren’t, before you ask) you might have been able to see all that from the above position.

Here’s the complete game: click on any move for a pop-up window.