Chess: a rook and two pawns each but what is White’s winning move?

Magnus Carlsen is playing from an undisclosed tropical location this week as the 30-year-old world champion is in contention for another online success in the Airthings Masters and its $60,000 first prize. The tournament, sponsored by a company selling and monitoring indoor air quality, has most of the global elite as participants, though with the notable exceptions of the No2, Fabiano Caruana of the US, and the No3, China’s Ding Liren.

Carlsen was assuredly the best human player of 2020, even though his fame was totally eclipsed by the fictional Beth Harmon of The Queen’s Gambit. Yet the crowd favourite among the tens of thousands of spectators who now watch online events and their free grandmaster commentaries was Daniil Dubov. The Muscovite, 24, excels in creative play, and his imaginative sacrificial attack against Sergey Karjakin in the Russian Championship has been widely acclaimed as Game of the Year. 

Carlsen v Dubov is the highlight match in the Airthings quarter-final on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The online British Championship finishes this weekend, and the England No1 Michael Adams appears set for victory after defeating the surprise of the tournament, 22-year-old Simon Finn. 

Puzzle 2400

Rook and two pawns each is normally a draw, but not here. Can you find White’s only winning move?

Click here for solution