White has a battery on the d-file and Black’s back rank is pretty weak; he has no defenders there, though his queen protects several of its squares. White thus contemplates 1. Qd8+; and if Black replies QxQ, then RxQ#. But one must consider all of an opponent’s possible responses, and here Black has a better one with the interposition 1. ...Qf8. Does this spoil White’s plan? No, because he remains mindful not just of mate but of other tactical goals, such as the creation of forks. Thus White can go ahead with 2. QxQ+, KxQ and then play 3. Rd8+—a fork of Black’s king and loose bishop that leaves White with a piece to show for the sequence.

Consider this an example of motif (c) described at the start of this section: the back rank mate fails, but it forces Black to arrange his pieces for a rook fork on the back rank that wins material for White.