A Queen and Two Rooks for g7

The game, move by move

The Evans Gambit

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. Nf3 The knight out
4. 2… Nc6 And Black’s
5. 3. Bc4 The bishop at f7
6. 3… Bc5 Facing it
7. 4. b4 The Evans Gambit A pawn for a tempo and the c3–d4 centre. Anderssen played it all his life and this is what he played it for.
8. 4… Bxb4 Taken
9. 5. c3 c3, building
10. 5… Bc5 The bishop back to c5
11. 6. O-O White castles
12. 6… d6 Holding e5

The centre, and a knight to the rim

1. 7. d4 The big centre
2. 7… exd4 Taken
3. 8. cxd4 Recaptured — two pawns abreast
4. 8… Bb6 The bishop steps back
5. 9. d5 The pawn goes past d5 takes c6 away from the knight and pushes it to the edge of the board, where it spends nine moves.
6. 9… Na5 The knight to a5
7. 10. Bb2 The bishop to b2 Onto the long diagonal, which is empty from b2 to g7 except for a pawn on d5 that is White’s own. It never moves again, and at the end it is the piece that covers h8.
8. 10… Nf6 Developing
9. 11. Bd3 The bishop steps aside
10. 11… Bg4 Pinning the knight
11. 12. Nc3 The last piece out
12. 12… c6 c6, hitting the centre
13. 13. Ne2 The knight re-routes
14. 13… O-O Black castles Into the corner the bishop on b2 has been looking at for seven moves.

Both files opened on g

1. 14. Qd2 The queen comes over
2. 14… Rc8 The rook to the c-file
3. 15. Qg5 Qg5 — the queen arrives She hits g7 through the knight on f6, and everything White has left is now pointed at the same square.
4. 15… Bxf3 The knight, taken
5. 16. gxf3 Recaptured towards the centre gxf3 opens the g-file for a rook that has not moved yet. White’s own king is on g1 at this moment, which is the only reason the next move is needed.
6. 16… cxd5 The centre pawn, won back
7. 17. Kh1 Kh1 — off the g-file A quiet move that costs nothing and is the whole preparation. The rook can now come to g1 without the king being in its way.
8. 17… Nc4 The knight to c4
9. 18. Rg1 The rook to g1 Queen, rook and bishop on one file and one diagonal, all of them ending at g7.
10. 18… Ne8 The knight comes back to defend Ne8 guards g7 a second time, and it is the last defensive move Black gets to make.

Everything for g7

1. 19. Qxg7+ The queen, on g7 Given away to the piece that has just arrived to defend the square. She cannot be declined: the knight has to take, and taking is what unguards g7.
2. 19… Nxg7 Taken
3. 20. Rxg7+ The rook, on the same square A queen and now a rook on g7, and the king has one square.
4. 20… Kh8 Into the corner
5. 21. Rg8+ And the rook again, on g8 Offered a second time. The king has to take it — h7 is covered and nothing else can reach g8.
6. 21… Kxg8 Taken
7. 22. Rg1+ The second rook comes to g1 The first one has been given away and the file is still open, which was the point of all of it.
8. 22… Qg5 The queen interposes The only way to block the check, and she is undefended on the square she blocks it from.
9. 23. Rxg5# Checkmate The rook takes the queen on g5 and the king on g8 has nowhere. The bishop that came to b2 on move ten covers h8 and g7; the rook covers g7 as well; f8, f7 and h7 are Black’s own men.