One Rook Attack
The One Rook Attack
by WebMaster
Learn a new chess attack with this Problem Set!
Did you know that the way a chess game usually goes, a single rook can often be enough to checkmate your opponent? I will explain why quickly, and then give you a chance to learn through practice. Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles.
Have you seen what a normal "castle" for a king looks like? Here it is:
Notice anything about the king's position? How could you approach him easily? From which angle is he protected? Where would you put a rook if you wanted to checkmate him?
The king is totally shielded in front by his own pawns. So it's quite difficult to get at him coming from in front. But if you came at him from the side, those same pawns would actually trap him in. The castle wall that was supposed to keep others out, can also lock your own king in! Here's the basic way you could checkmate a king with one rook:
You'll see this pattern again and again, because it's very normal for a king to sit in his castle behind a wall of pawns just like that. And if the enemy rook or queen gets a chance to sneak past his allies and take control of the back rank, it can often be a sudden CHECKMATE!
Ok, that should be enough for you to start solving some puzzles. Here we go:
That wasn't too tricky was it? I was making sure you knew that not only the white rooks could give checkmate. That black ones can too!
OK, on to the next one! Here black was doing very well. They were behind a pawn, but were creating a strong attack against the white king who is somewhat open. But black got too excited! This can be very dangerous. In his delight about his own attack he incautiously advanced his knight on d7 to c5, with terrifying threats... and a horrifying oversight. How did white take advantage?
OK, good so far, now keep going. See how many you can solve:
Now, for every possible attack in chess, there are also defenses. See if you can figure out how to escape from this "One Rook Attack" in the next puzzles:
You know, if you're tired, you can take a break whenever you want! Here, have a couch. Take a nap.
OK, now for those of you who are really persistent I have a few more problems. In each of these it's a CHECKMATE!/NO CHECKMATE! question. Can white give back-rank checkmate? Don't wake the sleepers by yelling your answers too loudly though! OK, here we go--
Answers:
Puzzle 9: NO CHECKMATE!! If you try Rc8+, the black king can't get away, but one of his friends will deal with your rude rook. BishopxRook! And black might even laugh at your poor rook! Oh no!
Puzzle 10: CHECKMATE! Rd8 catches the king because the white knight on b5 keeps him from running out to c7.
Puzzle 11: NO CHECKMATE! If white plays Qd8+, black has the Bishop on g4 and the Knight on b6 who can both try to defend by blocking at c8. Even though the white bishop on h3 can help, two defenders plus the king is too much. White can't get a checkmate. For exampe: Qd8+ Nc8 Qxc8+ Kxc8 and white has no more attack. Or Qd8+ Bc8 Bxc8 Nxc8 and again the knight can keep the white queen away from the king. Or Qd8+ Bc8 Qxc8+ Nxc8 Rd8 (trying to checkmate next move with Rxc8, but black has a few ways to stop that) Re8, defending the back rank. I know that was a lot of possibilities, so here is a board to play them out:
Puzzle 12: This was the one trick puzzle of the day. No, black can't give a back rank checkmate with the rook, because the white bishop can come back and defend. But if black is ever so super tricky, he might see an amazing way to create a different open rank to give a "one-rook-checkmate" on! If you made it this far, check this out:
That was a really incredible example, right? Hope you had fun! You should also understand the "One-Rook-Attack" or "Back-Rank Checkmate" pretty well now.
What? More?? I didn't wear you guys out yet? Well, *I* am worn out! Guess you'll have to wait for the next problem set. Now that you've learned this pattern well, I'll be sure to give you more awesome problems like that last trick question in the next article.
