Castling With Check

The game, move by move

A King’s Gambit declined

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. Bc4 The bishop at f7
4. 2… Nf6 Developing
5. 3. d3 d3, propping up e4
6. 3… Bc5 Facing the bishop
7. 4. Nc3 The knight out
8. 4… d6 d6, solid
9. 5. f4 f4 anyway The gambit offered late, with both sides developed. Taking it opens the file White’s rook is about to castle onto.
10. 5… Nc6 The second knight
11. 6. Nf3 Developing
12. 6… Bg4 Pinning the knight Bg4 pins f3 against the queen — and four moves from now Black takes that queen with this bishop, which is exactly what White wants.

The bishops take over

1. 7. Na4 The knight to the rim
2. 7… exf4 Taken at last
3. 8. Nxc5 The bishops come off
4. 8… dxc5 Recaptured
5. 9. Bxf4 The pawn taken back
6. 9… Nh5 The knight to h5 It walks to the rim and takes no further part. Black now has a queen, two rooks and a knight that are all doing nothing.
7. 10. Be3 The bishop steps to e3 Hitting c5. Both white bishops are now on diagonals that end next to the black king.
8. 10… Ne5 The knight to e5

A queen for two bishops

1. 11. Nxe5 Taken
2. 11… Bxd1 The queen, taken on d1 Black wins the queen for a bishop and the white king has not castled. What he has instead is two bishops, a knight on e5 and a rook that is one move from f1.
3. 12. Bxf7+ The bishop takes f7, with check The first of five moves, none of which Black gets a say in.
4. 12… Ke7 Ke7 — the only square

Castling, and mate

1. 13. Bxc5+ The second bishop, with check
2. 13… Kf6 Kf6
3. 14. O-O+ Castling — with check The king steps into the corner and the rook lands on f1, giving check down the file to a king on f6. One move does the safety and the attack at once, and it is the only time in this library that castling is a check.
4. 14… Kxe5 The king takes the knight The only legal move: f7 and g5 are covered, and there is nothing to interpose on f5 that does not lose immediately.
5. 15. Rf5# Checkmate, on f5 The rook that has just castled steps up to f5. It covers d5, f6 and f4; the pawn on e4 covers f5 and d5; the bishop on f7 covers d5 and e6; the bishop on c5 covers d4 and d6; and the pawn on d3 covers e4. A king mated on the fifth rank with all sixteen of his own pieces bar two still on the board.