The first thing you might see in Black’s position is the alignment of his king and bishop on the sixth rank. But there is no way to fashion a productive pin out of it because the bishop has protection from its queen; if White plays Ra6 the king just moves. The more important patterns here are a little subtler, though by now familiar. Black’s king is out far enough to suggest that White’s rook might be able to get behind it. You might also see that Black’s king and queen are almost lined up on the same file. Put these points together and a goal comes into view: if you could force Black’s king onto f5, you would have a skewer with Rxf7 that would take Black’s queen and finish the game.

Anyhow, whether or not you saw this entire idea in advance you naturally should try your checks to see what they would achieve. With the rook there is one—Re7—that loses a piece. With the queen there are several: Qc4, Qd5, Qd6, Qd7, Qg4. Your first preference in sorting these is to make Black’s king move in ways that you control without losing anything in the process. Qc4+ allows Black to play Kxe5, and Qd7+ loses the queen to Black’s bishop; so instead consider the safe Qd6+, where the queen takes protection from the pawn on e5. This is a snug check. Black’s king can’t move to the seventh rank or to f6; it must go to f5. See how this puts his king and queen on the same file, making a skewer a simple matter. White plays Rxf7+ and wins Black’s queen a move later. Black will recapture White’s rook with his king, but then White will take Black’s bishop with his queen.