At first glance Black would appear to be in good shape
for the coming endgame.
He has two minor pieces for
White's rook, his king is surrounded by two of his three remaining
pieces, and even though his h-pawn is hanging, that passed b-pawn is
looming larger with each rank it advances.
Little does
Black suspect that his queen is about to head for the box!
1.Rc7
Attracting the black queen away from it's
cozy spot on d7, and more importantly, away from any protection!
Does this count as a pin, since the black queen is now restricted to
the 7th rank? You bet it does!
1...Qxc7 2.Qh7+
A skewer: the queen attacks a piece of greater value (in this case,
the black king) than the value of the real target, which is the
unprotected black queen directly in line behind the king.
Now that the black queen is no longer protected, once the king moves
out of check, White will capture the queen and have more than enough
of a material advantage to win the game.
2...Ke6
3.Qxc7
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