In Part 2 of this series, we left off with this position.
I asked you what the quickest win would be against the natural 17…Qe7. 18.Nf6+! finishes the game. 18…Kh8 19.Qh5 is mate, while 18…Qxf6 meets 19.Qxf6 and the g7-pawn is pinned to the king.
By now it’s game over no matter what Black does; he can’t save both his king and queen. The game itself finished 17…Bxb3 18.Nxd6 (18.Nf6+! was a faster finish) 18…Be6 19.Ne4 Be7
20.Nf6+ there we go. 20…Bxf6 20.Qxf6 and Black resigned, down a queen facing inevitable mate.
Conclusion
This game showed a clear way to play against 8…h6 in the Worrall Ruy Lopez. White can delay kingside castling, waiting for Black to commit his king. After Black castles, he can play g4!, aiming for the g5 pawn break, opening lines on the kingside. This treatment of the Spanish deserves close attention for its potency as a practical weapon.
More generally, it showed the concept of attacking a ‘hook’ on the kingside. Advanced pawns in the castled formation can act as targets for pawn breaks or piece sacrifices by the opponent. This game dramatically illustrated how a hook pawn on h6 can become a target for the g4-g5 break. This is an important theme in many openings, but especially the Italian and Ruy Lopez.