The Bishop That Walked to f8

The game, move by move

The Pirc

1. 1. d4 Queen’s pawn
2. 1… g6 g6 — the Pirc
3. 2. e4 The second centre pawn
4. 2… Bg7 The bishop on the diagonal
5. 3. f4 f4 — three pawns abreast
6. 3… d6 d6, holding
7. 4. Nf3 Developing
8. 4… Nf6 The knight out
9. 5. Bd3 The bishop to d3 Onto the diagonal that ends at h7, which is where the game ends.
10. 5… O-O Black castles
11. 6. O-O And White
12. 6… Nbd7 The second knight

The f-file opened

1. 7. e5 e5, hitting the knight
2. 7… Ne8 The knight goes back to e8 It has to: the alternative is being pushed around by pawns. It also stops defending g7 and h7.
3. 8. Qe1 The queen to e1 On her way to h4, which takes one move because the f-pawn has already gone.
4. 8… c5 c5, on the other wing
5. 9. f5 f5 — the second pawn
6. 9… dxe5 Taken
7. 10. fxg6 The pawn takes g6
8. 10… hxg6 Recaptured — the h-file opens And Black’s own king is now on a diagonal with a bishop on d3 at the end of it and a queen one move from h4.
9. 11. Qh4 The queen to h4
10. 11… exd4 The pawn taken

A rook and a bishop on f6 and f8

1. 12. Bh6 The bishop to h6 It attacks nothing — the fianchettoed bishop is defended — and it is going to g7’s square, and then to f8.
2. 12… Nef6 The knight comes back to f6
3. 13. Ng5 The knight to g5 Adding a third piece. Everything White owns is now on the kingside and everything Black owns is not.
4. 13… Ne5 The knight to e5
5. 14. Rxf6 The rook, on f6 A rook for a knight, offered in front of the king. Taking it with the bishop loses to Qxf6, so Black moves the bishop instead.
6. 14… Bh8 The bishop steps to h8
7. 15. Rf1 The rook comes back
8. 15… Re8 The rook to e8
9. 16. Bf8 The bishop, on f8 It steps onto a square three black pieces are looking at and none of them can take it. The point is that it cuts the rook off from f7 and g8 for as long as it stands there.
10. 16… Bf6 The bishop back to f6
11. 17. Rxf6 The rook takes it A second rook for a bishop, to drag the e-pawn onto f6 and off the seventh rank.
12. 17… exf6 Taken

Mate on h7

1. 18. Qh6 The queen to h6 Threatening mate on h7, and there is exactly one piece that can be brought back to stop it.
2. 18… Rxf8 The bishop, taken at last The rook takes on f8 — which is the only thing it can do, and which puts it on the square that shuts its own king in.
3. 19. Qh7# Checkmate, on h7 The queen takes the pawn, held by the knight that came to g5 eleven half-moves ago. She covers h8 and g7; the knight covers h7; and f8 and f7 are Black’s own rook and pawn.