Two Rooks for Four Checks

The game, move by move

The Max Lange

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… Nf6 The Two Knights
7. 4. d4 d4 — the Max Lange A pawn offered to open the centre before either king is safe.
8. 4… exd4 Taken
9. 5. O-O White castles
10. 5… Nxe4 And a second pawn taken
11. 6. Re1 The rook to the open file Pinning the knight on e4 against a king who has not moved.
12. 6… d5 d5, blocking
13. 7. Bxd5 The bishop takes
14. 7… Qxd5 Recaptured with the queen

Queens in the middle

1. 8. Nc3 Developing with tempo
2. 8… Qa5 The queen to a5
3. 9. Nxd4 The knight takes d4
4. 9… Nxd4 Traded
5. 10. Qxd4 Recaptured
6. 10… f5 f5, holding the knight It props up e4 and it opens the diagonal to Black’s own king, which is the shape of the whole game.
7. 11. Bg5 The bishop to g5
8. 11… Qc5 The queen to c5
9. 12. Qd8+ Check, from d8
10. 12… Kf7 The king steps to f7 He never castles, and for the rest of the game he stands on f7 doing nothing at all — which turns out to be safer than White’s king on g1.
11. 13. Nxe4 The knight taken
12. 13… fxe4 Recaptured — a pawn on e4

Both rooks collected

1. 14. Rad1 The second rook to d1 Both rooks on the middle files, and one of them is going to be standing on d1 in its own king’s way at the end.
2. 14… Bd6 The bishop to d6
3. 15. Qxh8 The rook in the corner, taken
4. 15… Qxg5 And the bishop taken back
5. 16. f4 f4, hitting the queen
6. 16… Qh4 The queen to h4 Onto the diagonal that ends at e1 and the file that ends at h1. From here she gives all four of the checks.
7. 17. Rxe4 The rook takes e4
8. 17… Bh3 The bishop to h3 Aimed at g2. Black is a whole rook down and has just put his last bishop on a square where a pawn can take it.
9. 18. Qxa8 The second rook, taken White is now two rooks up. He has spent the two moves it cost him and Black has spent the same two moves getting both bishops onto the two diagonals.
10. 18… Bc5+ Check, from c5

Four checks

1. 19. Kh1 Kh1 — the corner
2. 19… Bxg2+ The bishop takes g2, with check A bishop for a pawn, and the king has to take: h1 is the corner and there is nothing else that can.
3. 20. Kxg2 Taken
4. 20… Qg4+ Check, from g4
5. 21. Kf1 Kf1
6. 21… Qf3+ Check, from f3
7. 22. Ke1 Ke1 — back where he started
8. 22… Qf2# Checkmate, on f2 The queen lands on f2 held by the bishop on c5. She covers f1, e2 and d2; the bishop covers f2 — and d1 is White’s own rook, which he moved there himself seventeen half-moves ago.