Reproduction of this essay in whole or in part for noncommercial purposes, with attribution and with notice of
copyright, is permitted; reproduction of this essay in whole or in part for commercial purposes, or without attribution,
or without notice of copyright, without the author's express permission, is not permitted.
Chess diagrams appear thanks to Steve Eddins's ChessImager,
available here.
Little Lesson ?: Cutting Off the King's Escape Route
Black's attack will necessitate the White king's fleeing to d2 (and thence to the kingside), but the king's
flight path will be cut off and White will be forced to resign.
Black might like to play 1 ... Bg4, skewering the White queen and d1-rook, but White would simply trade
queens on e7 and then move the rook away. Black might file away that idea for later.
Black could play 1 ... Bxc3 2 Qxe7 Bxb2+ 3 Kb1 Ba3+ 4 Ka1 Bxe7, winning a piece and pawn; unfortunately,
play could instead go 1 ... Bxc3 2 Bxc3 Qxe2 3 Bxe2 cxd4, evening material and undoubling Black's pawns
but also defusing Black's attack.
But what if Black played 1 ... Ba3? The bishop would be immune to capture, as 2 bxa3 Qxa3 would be
checkmate;
and White wouldn't be able to capture Black's queen without loss of material, as 1 ... Ba3 2 Qxe7 Bxb2+
3 Kb1 Bxc3+ 4 Kc1 Bb2+ 5 Kb1 Ba3+ 6 Ka1 Bxe7 would win a piece and pawn just as above. 2 b3, to
neutralize the b8-rook, wouldn't be possible, because the a3-bishop would pin the White b-pawn. And with
the bishop on a3, there would be the threat of 2 ... Bxb2+ 3 Kb1 Bxc3+ 4 Kc1 Qa3 mate. (Note that even
without the mate threat, Black would still have won a piece and pawn in that variation.)
The game continued 1 ... Ba3 2 Na4 (defending b2) Bxb2+ 3 Nxb2 Qa3 4 Qe5 (stopping mate on b2).
After 4 Qe5
After 7 Be1
Black is threatening ... Qxa2, with ... Qa1 mate, but an immediate 4 ... Qxa2 will be met by 5 Bc3, both
defending b2 and creating an escape square for the White king. Black's next few moves cut off the White
king's escape route: 4 ... Re8 5 Qd4 c5 6 Qc3 (White's Bc3 is no longer possible) Qxa2 7 Be1 (giving
the White king the escape square d2; see diagram) Re2! (cutting off the escape square d2) 8 Bxe2 Ne4. The knight both
attacks White's queen and covers d2, making 9 ... Qa1 mate unstoppable (9 Qa5 fails to 9 ... Qxb2 mate).
The purpose of the moves 7 ... Re2 and 8 ... Ne4 is to prevent the White king's escape to d2, so that
... Qa1 (or ... Rb1 or ... Qb1, should the b2-knight move) will be checkmate and not merely a harmless
check. Even if it did nothing else, 4 ... Re8 would seize control of the e-file and would prevent the
king's fleeing across the e-file to the kingside. But 7 ... Re2 and 8 ... Ne4 do better!
After 4 Bc3 (analysis)
After 6 ... Nxd5 (analysis)
After 4 Bc3 (analysis)
It turns out that this is a complicated position. Combinations: Encyclopedia of Chess Combinations
often shows how an attack would proceed against
an alternative defense to the one actually played, but one it doesn't show, in this case, is 4 Bc3 (see
diagram). Yes,
it appears to give up a piece for nothing (although it's really giving back the piece White is already up),
but it clears d2 for the king and defends the knight if the
bishop isn't taken. True, 4 Bc3 Qxc3 5 Qe5 Qxe5 6 fxe5 Nxd5 (see diagram) leaves
Black a pawn to the good, but Black's queenside pawn majority is quite toothless (since he can't use it to
make a passed pawn--and making a passed pawn, after all, is the point of having a pawn majority), and
whatever advantage he might have will depend on his being able to win the e5-pawn, which, being separated
from its brethren and sitting on a half-open file (and hence subject to attack by rooks), is a target.
(Black might delay taking the c3-bishop, playing instead 4 ... Re8, intending--and this gets a bit
complicated--5 Qf2 Qxc3 [leaving the knight
defenseless] 6 Nc4 [6 Na4 Qa3+ wins the knight] Ba6 7 Ne5 [7 Qc5 Re2 8 Bxe2 Ne4 and 9 ... Qa1 mate] Bxd3
8 Nxd3 Ne4, covering d2 with tempo because of the attack on the f2-queen and mating by ... Qa1 [if instead
8 Rxd3 Qa1+ 9 Kd2 Ne4+ 10 Ke2/e3 Nxf2 11 Rxa1 Nxd3 12 Kxd3 cxd5, and Black is up an Exchange and pawn in a
won ending]; but instead of answering 4 ... Re8 by 5 Qf2, White may play 5 Qf3, when 5 ... Qxc3?? loses the
Black queen to 6 Bxh7+. Black might try 5 ... Bg4 6 Qg3, but then 6 ... Bxd1 fails to 7 Bxf6 g6 8 Rxd1,
when White has three pieces for a rook, has the b2-knight defended, and has the d2 escape square for his
king. But even without going into such complications, White can simply answer 4 ... Re8 by 5 Be5.)
What does look difficult for White is 4 Bc3 Qxc3 5 Qe5 Qa3 (see diagram below), threatening to win the
b2-knight by dislodging
the White queen from its protective diagonal by playing ... Re8 and ... c5 (or ... Rb4). Thus, 6 dxc6
(to prevent ... c5) fails to 6 ... Re8 7 Qd4 Rb4, when the b2-knight falls. Or 6 Rde1 Bg4 (threatening
7 ... Rfe8 8 Qd4 c5 9 Rxe8+ Nxe8 10 Qe5 f6, winning the b2-knight; 6 ... Re8 can't be played because of
7 Qxe8+ Nxe8 8 Rxe8+ Qf8 9 Bxh7+, leaving White up a rook) 7 Re3 (threatening to win the Black
queen via 8 Bxh7+; see diagram) Qxa2 8 Nd1 (not 8 Nc4 Qb1+ 9 Kd2 Qxh1) Rb1+ 8 Kd2 Rxd1+ 9 Rxd1 Bxd1
10 Kxd1 (see diagram)
After 5 ... Qa3 (analysis)
After 7 Re3 (analysis)
After 10 Kxd1 (analysis)
Black can continue 10 ... Qxd5 11 Qxc7 Qxg2, and if 12 Qxa7, then 12 ... Qg1+ (pinning the White rook)
13 Ke2 Ng4 wins the Exchange (if 14 Bxh7+, Black must avoid 14 ... Kxh7? 15 Rh3+, winning Black's queen). I
think the alternative 10 ... Ng4, forking White's queen and rook, works, but only because ... Nxe3 would be
check, so that 11 Bxh7+ Kh8 (11 ... Kxh7 12 Qf5+ [12 Qh5+ Nh6] Kg8 13 Qxg4) 12 Qh5 loses to
12 ... Qxd5+ 13 Qxd5 Nxe3+ and 14 ... Nxd5. So, after 10 ... Ng4 and the trade of knight for rook on e3,
Black will be up an Exchange. Either way--10 ... Qxd5 or 10 ... Ng4--Black is better, but White has
escaped the checkmate following 4 Qe5.