Chess and Checkers: The Way to Mastership by Edward Lasker (reading fiction .txt) 📖

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DIAGRAM 21.

On the next move White will, therefore, take the Pawn calling Check and at the same time attacking the Rook a8. The King must move and the Knight takes the Rook.

Quite frequently a similar attack with the Knight is likely to win the Queen if the opponent is not familiar with situations of that kind. If in the position of Diagram 21 White plays (1) Kt-d5, Black must protect the Pawn c7 by Q-d8 or Q-d6, but not by Q-c6; for in the latter case White would continue with (2) B-b5, Qxb5; (3) Ktxc7+ and (4) Ktxb5.

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DIAGRAM 22.

Sometimes two pieces are involved in the double attack, the line of one of the pieces being discovered by the other. Thus, in the position of Diagram 22, which could be brought about by the moves (1) P-e4, P-d5; (2) Pxd5, Qxd5; (3) Kt-c3, Q-a5; (4) P-d4, Kt-f6; (5) B-c4, P-e6; (6) B-d2, white threatens to play (7) Kt-d5, uncovering the Bishop d2 on Black’s Queen and at the same time attacking the Pawn c7, which Black cannot keep protected.

Threats of this kind more frequently occur in connection with a discovered Check. As an example the following opening will serve: (1) P-e4, P-e5; (2) Kt-f3, Kt-f6; (3) Ktxe5, Ktxe4; (4) Q-e2, Kt-f6. Black’s last move exposes his King to a discovered Check, and White wins the Queen by playing (5) Kt-c6+.

Next to the Knight the Queen is most frequently in a position to carry out a double attack. Two typical examples are shown in the following diagrams.

After the opening moves (1) P-e4, P-e5; (2) P-f4, B-C5; (3) Pxe5?? the position of Diagram 23 is reached, in which Black wins a Rook by Q-h4+. White cannot reply (4) K-e2 on account of Qxe4 mate. His only move is (4) P-g3 and then follows Qxe4 attacking King and Rook simultaneously.

This opening offers another opportunity to demonstrate the dangerous mobility of the Queen. Instead of (3) Pxe5 White should have played (3) Kt-f3. The game could then have continued as follows: P-d6; (4) B-c4, Kt-f6; (5) Pxe5, Pxe5: Again White cannot win the Pawn e5 for (6) Ktxe5 would be answered by Q-d4, attacking Knight and Bishop and threatening mate on f2.

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DIAGRAM 23.

Diagram 24 shows a typical case of a double threat with the Queen in conjunction with other pieces. White on the move plays B-d3, and now Black cannot castle as White would continue with Q-e4 threatening mate through Qxh7 and at the same time attacking the Bishop e7 for the second time who is only once protected. Black would have to defend the mate by either P-g6 or P-f5 or Q-h5 and White would capture the Bishop.

When castling on the King side a player must always beware of an attack by the Queen and another piece on the King’s Rook’s Pawn.

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DIAGRAM 24.

In the case illustrated above it was the Bishop who assisted the Queen. A Knight could aid in an attack on h7 from either g5 or f6. More frequently he does so from g5 as usually the square f6 is not accessible to him on account of the Pawn g7 protecting it. In the majority of cases the Knight goes to g5 from f3, and the Queen attacks h7 from h5, coming from her original square d1. Then, if Black cannot protect h7 by a Knight from f6 or by the Bishop, from f5 for instance, or from g6, the only protection as a rule is to advance the Pawn to h6. The position of Diagram 25 may serve as an example.

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DIAGRAM 25

Black’s last move was Kt-e7, while Kt-f6, which protects the Pawn h7 against future attacks, is generally preferable in any opening. White can now play Kt-g5, attacking the Pawn f7 for the second time, as it is already attacked by the Bishop c4. The student will, at this stage of his development, not yet know why Black should be so anxious to defend the Pawn f7, considering that he is a Pawn ahead so that the loss of a Pawn would only equalize the forces but would not give White a material advantage. However, later on, when discussing the strategy of the opening, it will become evident that in the position of the diagram Black must, under all circumstances, defend the Pawn f7 as otherwise his game would soon become hopeless on account of the exposed position of his King.

There are only two ways for Black to defend f7. One is to advance the Queen’s Pawn to d5, interrupting the diagonal of White’s Bishop; the other is to castle, so that the Rook procures the second protection for the Pawn f7 which is needed. It would then not be good for White to capture the Pawn because he would have to give up Knight and Bishop for Rook and one Pawn, which is not a sufficient equivalent.

Of the two ways indicated only the first one is feasible. For if Black castles he gives White an opportunity to institute an attack on the weak Pawn h7 with Knight and Queen against which Black has no satisfactory defense. Play would develop as follows:

 

(1) Kt-g5 o-o

(2) Q-h5 P-h6

This is the only defense against the threat Qxh7 mate. But White’s Queen’s move involved a double threat. It brought up a third attack on the Pawn f7, and the latter now falls, forcing Black to give up some more material.

 

(3) Ktxf7 Rxf7

Black has to sacrifice the exchange. If he moved the Queen, which is attacked by the Knight, he would expose his King to a deadly double check, viz.: (4) Ktxh6++, K-h8 or h7; (5) Kt-f7+ (discovered), K-g8; (6) Q-h8 mate. After giving up his Rook for the Knight on the third move Black has a lost game, for as explained in the previous chapter White can simply exchange all pieces and force the win in the ending with his superior material.

Another square which after castling on the King side is often the mark of attack for the Queen in connection with either Knight or Bishop, is the one immediately in front of the King in the Knight’s file. Diagram 26 illustrates several possibilities of this kind. White, on the move, can play (1) Q-g5, attacking for the second time the Pawn g7 which is only once protected. The threat, however, is not only to win a Pawn, but to win the game, for in taking the Pawn with the Queen White would checkmate Black’s King.

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DIAGRAM 26

The only defense at Black’s disposal is P-g6, but this move helps only temporarily. White can force the mate within a few moves in different ways. One would be the following:

 

(2) Kt-h6+ K-g7

If the King goes to h8 White mates by Q-f6.

 

(3) Q-f6+ Kxh6

(4) B-g5+ K-h5

(5) P-h3

and the mate through P-g4 cannot be protected. Another way would be:

 

(2) Q-h6 Pxf5

(3) B-f6

and the mate through Q-g7 cannot be protected.

The position of Diagram 26 enables another mating attack for White, demonstrating the possibility of mating with Bishop and Knight in the middle of a game, which occurs oftener than one would be inclined to think. White can play (1) B-f6 instead of Q-g5 as suggested above. Black cannot take the Bishop as White would continue Q-h6 with Q-g7 mate. Neither can Black play P-g6 as then White would mate right away with Kt-h6. The latter mate with Knight and Bishop White can force, even if Black does not move the Pawn g7 but makes some other indifferent move, as for instance Qxc2. White would then make the surprising move Q-h6, allowing