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March 26, 2009

Chess: Like a loaded gun

By Eric Morrow

A loaded gun has the power to kill but not to die, to paraphrase Emily Dickinson. White figuratively loads a gun in this week’s position. Once loaded, the attack won’t die.

With this hint in mind please try to find how white wins.

Black has a soft underbelly along the a8-h1 diagonal. Worsening this positional vulnerability is the absence of black’s light-square bishop, which could defend this diagonal. White exploits this by moving its queen to f3, threatening mate on b7.

If the black rook or queen moves to the 7th rank, white’s queen checks from a8 with a crushing attack. For example, if after white’s Qf3 black moves the queen to e7, play continues: 2. Qa8+ Kd7; Qc6 mate; or, 2. Qa8+ Kc7; 3.. Qb7+ Kd6; 4. Qc6+ Ke5; 5. f2-f4 mate.

If black instead of moving the queen to e7 moves its rook to d7, white’s queen check from a8 forces the black king to c7. White’s a1 rook enters the action from e1 and black’s position is like a cracked roof in a hailstorm.

Black’s best reply to Qf3 is to forsake its d8 rook by moving it to d5. If the pawn immediately takes the black rook, then the pawn self-blocks white’s attack. If white first attacks the queen with a rook on e1, then this leads to a white pawn on d5 or a queen trade on d5.

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