On Halloween night, 1926, Houdini died. His wife Bess was at his bedside. On Halloween night, 1929, Bess, hosted a séance. A medium named Arthur Ford attended and, according to Bess, repeated Houdini’s last words. Whether this was a hoax or whether Houdini performed his greatest escape has been debated ever since.

In this week’s position black appears lost. Like the 1929 séance, appearances may be deceiving. What is certain, however, is that black uncorks a Houdini and turns the tables on white. Please try to find the secret of black’s escape.

White is up the exchange and black’s d7 knight is in trouble. It cannot move to a square without being captured and white’s rooks are ready to suck the blood out of it, like vampires on Halloween night.

Black escapes by moving the knight to e4. If white takes the knight with its knight, black mates by sliding its rook to d1.

White delays mate by blocking the rook check with its rook. But then the black rook delivers a back door mate from f1.

Thus, the knight is off limits. Meanwhile, the knight forks white’s queen and f2 rook. If white’s queen immediately moves out of danger, black’s knight at e4 takes white’s rook at f2, checking white and winning on the spot.

Because of this, white’s best reply is to capture black’s rook on d8 with its d1 rook, checking black. Black’s queen must capture the white rook, which preserves the back door mating threat via d8 to d1+. This indirectly prevents white’s knight from snatching black’s e4 knight.

Now white’s queen flees, like a 5-year-old rushing to the next house on Halloween. It is irrelevant whether the queen moves to e3, f3 or f4. After the queen moves, black’s knight captures white’s rook at f2, which is then taken by white’s queen.

Black is now ahead a pawn and has the superior position. Black can force a queen trade by moving its queen to d4. This helps black because its king is one square closer to the center. This amounts to an extra move. In an endgame with a one pawn edge this can be the difference between a win and a draw.

This Halloween don’t be tricked by ghouls, goblins and ghosts into believing in illusions. Invoke the magic of Houdini and have a great escape.