Chess and Checkers : the Way to Mastership

by Edward Lasker

SPECIAL TERMS

Attack and Defense

A man is said to ATTACK another man if he moves so that on his next move he could capture the other man. Thus, in Diagram 5, White could attack Black's Bishop by moving his Rook to d1 or to e6.

A man is said to DEFEND or to PROTECT another man if he moves so that in case the other man is captured by a hostile man he could recapture the latter. Thus, in Diagram 5, Black could defend his Bishop by moving his Knight to either e4 or e8 in case White attacks with the Rook from d1. Should White attack from e6, then Black would not defend the Bishop with the Knight, for on e4 as well as on e8 the Knight is unprotected and could be captured by the Rook without White losing anything in exchange. Black has a much more simple way to defend the attack of the Rook from e6, that is, by capturing the Rook with the Pawn f7. For this reason White would not have moved the Rook to e6.

Check and Checkmate

If a man makes a move which attacks the opposing King the King is said to be in "check." The player whose King is checked then has to make a move which gets the King out of check

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8 | | | | | | | #K | |
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7 | | | | | | #P | #P | |
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6 | | | | #B | | #Kt| | #P |
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5 | | | | | | | | |
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4 | ^P | | | | | | | |
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3 | | | ^P | | | | | ^P |
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2 | | | | | | | ^P | |
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1 | | | | | ^R | | ^K | |
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a b c d e f g h

DIAGRAM 5.

or he forfeits the game. This is the only case in which a player is not at liberty to make any move he likes.

Unless the attacking man can be captured there are only two ways of getting out of check. One of these is to interpose a man between the King and the attacking piece, and the other to move the King out of the line of attack. In Diagram 5 Black could give check by moving the Bishop to c5. In answer to this White has four moves at his disposal. He may either move the King to f1 or h1 or h2, or he may interpose his Rook on e3. The latter would be very unwise as Black would simply take the Rook with his Bishop, again checking White's King. The situation would then not have changed at all except that White would have lost his Rook. White's King could not move to f2, for this would leave him still attacked by the Bishop.

Instead of checking on c5 Black could have attacked White's King on h2. But in this case the King would have simply captured the Bishop.

If it were White's move he could give check with the Rook on e8. But Black could take the Rook with the Knight. He would naturally do this instead of either moving out with the King to h7 or interposing the Bishop on f8.

If a King is in Check and there is no move with which to get him out of it he is said to be "checkmate" and the game is ended. Diagram 6 shows an example in which either player can give checkmate on the move.

If it were White's move he would take the Pawn on g6 with his Queen. Now Black's King is in check as White's Queen threatens to take him on the next move. The King cannot move to either g7 or h7, for these two squares are also commanded by White's Queen.

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8 | | | | ^R | | #Kt| #K | #R |
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7 | #P | #B | #P | | | #P | | |
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6 | | #P | #Q | #B | | | #P | |
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5 | | | | | | | | |
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4 | | | | | | ^Kt| ^Kt| |
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3 | | ^B | | ^Q | | | | ^P |
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2 | ^P | ^P | ^P | | | | ^P | ^K |
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1 | | | | | | | | |
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a b c d e f g h

DIAGRAM 6.

Moreover, the latter cannot be taken by the Pawn on f7 as the black King would be in check by the Bishop on b3. The Pawn is "pinned" by the Bishop. Black's Knight cannot take White's Queen either as he is pinned by White's Rook. Finally, there is no piece available which may be interposed between White's Queen and Black's King; in other words: Black is checkmate, his game is lost.

If it were Black's move he would take the Pawn g2 with the Queen. Now White's King is in check as Black's Queen threatens to take him on the next move. He may not take the Queen as he would then be captured by the Bishop b7. Neither may the Knight f4 take the Queen as he is pinned by the Bishop d6. Moreover, the King may not escape to g1, h1 or g3, these three squares lying in the rangeof Black's Queen; and so there is no move on the board with which to get White's King out of check: He is checkmate, White loses the game.

Stalemate

If a player, without being in check, cannot make any move which would not get his King into check, he is said to be STALEMATE. In this case the game is considered a draw. Diagram 7 shows an example.

White on the move, although his forces are much inferior, can draw the game by checking with the Rook on f3. Black cannot very well make a move with his King in reply, as then White's Rook would take the Queen. Black, therefore, must capture the Rook with the Queen and with this move he stalemates White, as the latter has no move left which would not bring his King into check.

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8 | | | | | | | | |
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7 | | | | | | | | |
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6 | | | | | | | | |
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5 | | | | | | | | |
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4 | | | | | | | | |
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3 | | | | #Q | | | | #K |
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2 | | | | | | ^R | | |
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1 | | | | | #R | ^Kt| ^K | |
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a b c d e f g h

DIAGRAM 7.

If it were Black's move he would easily win. In fact he has two different ways of checkmating White in three moves. One of them would be to take the Knight with the Rook, attacking the King and forcing White's Rook to recapture as the King has no square to go to; then to give check with the Queen on g3 forcing White's King to h1 and enabling the mate with the Queen on g2 or h2.

The other way would be to start with the check on g3. As White's
Knight is pinned he cannot capture the Queen.

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8 | | | | | | | #K | |
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7 | | | | | | | #P | |
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6 | | | | | | | | |
|———————————————————-|
5 | | | | | | | | |
|———————————————————-|
4 | | | | | ^Q | | | |
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3 | | #Q | | | | | ^P | |
|———————————————————-|
2 | #P | | | | | | | ^P |
|———————————————————-|
1 | | | | | | | | ^K |
+———————————————————-+
a b c d e f g h

DIAGRAM 8

Interposing the Rook on g2 would not help either as the Queen would simply take him at the same time checkmating the King. White's only move is, therefore, to play the King into the corner, and Black then mates by first taking the Knight and then moving the Queen to g2 or h2.

Perpetual Check

If a player is able to check the opposing King continually and he indicates his intention to do so the game is considered a draw. In the following position, for instance, White on the move can draw the game by giving a perpetual check on e8 and h5. Black cannot help himself as he has to go back and forth with the King on h7 and g8. Without the possibility of this perpetual check White would be lost, for he cannot prevent the Pawn a2 from queening and with two Queens against one Black would easily win as will be seen later from the discussion of elementary endings.

Exchange

To exchange means to capture a hostile man when it allows a man of the same value to be captured by the opponent.

It is rather confusing that the term "exchange" is also used for the difference in value between a Rook and a Bishop or a Knight. To win the exchange, in this sense, means to capture a Rook and to lose for it only a Bishop or a Knight.

Double Pawn

Two Pawns of the same player standing in one file are called a double Pawn. Three Pawns in one file are called a triple Pawn.

Passed Pawn

A Pawn whose advance to the eighth rank is not blocked by an opposing Pawn in the same file and who does not have to pass one on an adjoining file is called a passed Pawn.

Isolated Pawn

A Pawn is called isolated if there are no Pawns of the same player on the adjoining files.

Backward Pawn

A Pawn is called backward if he cannot advance far enough to be protected by fellow Pawns in an adjoining file.

Fork

A Pawn is said to fork two pieces if he attacks them simultaneously.

Minor Piece

The Bishops and the Knights are called minor Pieces as compared with the Rooks and the Queen.

Sacrifice

To sacrifice means to give up a man without obtaining for him a man of the opponent or to give up a man for one of lesser value.

Discovered Check and Double Check

A discovered Check is an attack on the King caused by a man moving out of the line of a piece which he was obstructing. If the man discovering the Check also attacks the King the Check is called a double Check.