Thematic tatics Rxh5

In these positions the first move will always be the same move. The hard thing is to follow up with the right moves afterwards... So, if you want to boost your calculating abilities go ahead and take a look. It's white to move and win in all 10 positions! All the soultions are at the end of the article.

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Solutions

1.Wade, R – Burstein, 1954
1.Rxh5! 1-0 Of course gxf just runs into 2.Qg5

2.Stein, L – Shianovsky, 1960
1.Rxh5! gxh 2.g6! fxg (hxg is not better as after 3.Ne6! black also has to give up the queen because 3…fxg is meet by 4.Qxg6+ Kh7 5.Qh6+ Kg8 6.Rg1+ Kf7 7.Qg6#) 3.Ne6 Rf7 4.Nxd8 and white later won.

3.Bojkovic, S – Adamski, J, 1963
1.Rxh5! gxh 2.Nf5! 1-0 After 2…exf 3.Nd5, idea Nf6

4.Minic, D – Lee, P, 1964
1.Rxh5 gxh 2.Rh1 Simply building up more pressure on the h-file.2…Qc8 3.Rxh5 Bf5 Trying to defend 4.exf Rxc2+ 5.Nxc2 Qxf5 6.g6! 1-0 After 6…Qxg6 7.Rg5 white simply has an overwhelming material advantage.

5.Hindle, O – Sörensen P, 1965
1.Rxh5! 1-0 After 2…gxh 3.Nxe7+ Kh8 4.Qf6#

6.Foster, C – Hodgson, J, 1967
1.Rxh5! gxh 2.g6! An important key move! hxg 3.Qxg6+ Kf8 4.Rg1 1-0 White attack is simply winning. After 4…e6 (or e5) 5.Qf6+ Ke8 6.Rg8# wins

7.Rossolimo, N – Langer,S, 1967
1.Rxh5! Bxd4 (Of course 1…gxh Runs into 2.Qg5) 2.Qxd4 e5 3.Qxd6 gxh 4.Qf6 1-0 There is no way to stop Qg7#

8.Mariani, C – Palmiotto, F, 1970
1.Rxh5! Rh8 (gxh loses immediately after 2.Qg5 Kh7 3.Qxh5+ Kg7 4.Qg5+ Kh7 5.Rh1#) 2.Rxh8 Qxh8 and black resign a few move later.

9.Hill, D – Peters, S, 2000
1.Rxh5 Rc1+ (on 1…gxh wins 2.g6! (how many times haven’t we seen this move in this types of positions. A worthy idea to remember) 2…gxh 3.Qxg6+ Kf8 4.Rg1 e6 5.Qg8+ picking up the rook at c8.) 2.Kxc1 1-0 (avoiding potential checks that could arise after 2.Rxc1 and Qd3+

10.Holzschuh, S – Balz, C, 2002
1.Rxh5! gxh 2.e5 f5 3.Qxe6+ 1-0 (but stronger was to open the g-file with 3.gxf)