Seven Moves, Nothing Taken

The game, move by move

A Closed Sicilian

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… c5 The Sicilian
3. 2. Nc3 The knight out
4. 2… Nc6 And Black’s
5. 3. Nge2 The second knight, to e2 A quiet move, and both white knights are now heading for the same square.
6. 3… e5 e5, taking the centre It takes d4 and f4 away from White. It also puts a hole on d5 that two knights are already looking at.

Both knights at d5

1. 4. Nd5 The knight to d5 It cannot be taken and it cannot be chased away by a pawn, because the pawn that would do it is on c5.
2. 4… Nge7 The knight to e7 — the losing move It challenges the knight on d5 and it blocks the bishop on f8 and the square e7 at the same time. Both of those matter in three moves.
3. 5. Nec3 The second knight to c3 Holding d5 a second time. Every piece White has moved is a knight, and both of them are on the same job.
4. 5… a6 a6, doing nothing
5. 6. a4 a4, doing nothing either White has a move to spare and spends it on the other side of the board. There is no threat to answer.
6. 6… g6 g6 — and the last square is gone It looks like the start of a fianchetto. What it does is take f6 out of reach of nothing and leave the king with no square at all: d7, d8, e7, f7 and f8 are already occupied.
7. 7. Nf6# Checkmate, on f6 The knight steps to f6 and every square around the black king holds one of his own pieces — bishop on f8, queen on d8, knight on e7, pawns on f7 and d7. Seven moves, and nothing has been captured by either side.