Summer holiday tactics

While the club may have closed for the summer, some members are still chessing despite the heatwave! The diagram (Black to play) shows a recent position from a junior training session with yours truly as White and one of HJCC's brightest talents Oliver Thorne as Black, which I thought followers of the website might enjoy...

First it was the turn of the (relatively) old fox to strike after Black's 1...Rb8 - what could be more natural than moving the attacked rook and threaten both the queen and Rb1 mate? Unfortunately there is a spectacular flaw, how does White win from here?

Instead we went back and tried 1...Re8 after which White should have played 2.Rxc7 with a winning position - unfortunately I tried 2.Qxc7 instead. How did Oliver punish this oversight with another tactical finish?

Both answers below in the comments box. Enjoy the summer!

Comments

Anthony Higgs's picture

After 1...Rb8 White has 2.Qxb8+!! Nxb8 3.Rg8+! Nxg8 4.Bg7 mate.

After 2.Qxc7 Oliver played 2...Bb2+!! (the only move to win) 3.Kxb2 Re2+ 4.Kc1 Qc3+ 5.Kd1 Qc2 mate.