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It's mate on the e-file -- but not with the piece you might expect!

I really liked this one. There are a few variations, and it all feels a bit like a "sledgehammer" technique that is nevertheless quite elegant. Just throw everything you've got at the king, with a total disregard for losses, and earn the king as a prize.  

The key point for me was to figure out the importance of the f7-pawn for Black. White has a huge attack force on the e-file, and that's where Black's king is. Only Black's e6-pawn stands in the way, and its d7-bishop can't protect it, since it's pinned. So Black's defense on the e-file hangs on a single thread: the f7-pawn protecting the e6-pawn.

1. Ng6 attacks at the very heart of Black's weakness by threatening the king while using a square that Black only controls with its f7-pawn. If Black responds 1... fxg6, then the protection of the e6-pawn breaks apart (deflection), and the rest is straight-forward.

So Black can only answer 1... Kd6 or 1.. Ke8. But 1... Kd6 loses immediately, so that only leaves 1... Ke8. But then, Black's king is imprisoned and has nowhere to go. So White's final goal is to attack the Black king on the e-file. It has two pieces already on the e-file, and yet another (the c7-rook) that can go to e7, where it's protected by the truly awesomely positioned g6-knight. White can now sacrifice its queen AND its rook on the e-file to force Black to move the d7-bishop away, ultimately allowing for 4. Re7#.

In a real game, 1. Ng6 would be a move that I would certainly annotate with an exclamation mark if I were to write it down.  

White just bulldozers a way to the Black King!

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