A Pawn Left on h6

The game, move by move

The Dutch

1. 1. Nf3 The knight first
2. 1… f5 f5 — the Dutch
3. 2. d4 The centre
4. 2… Nf6 The knight out
5. 3. Bg5 The bishop to g5
6. 3… e6 e6, solid
7. 4. Nbd2 The second knight
8. 4… Be7 Developing
9. 5. Bxf6 The bishops come off Bxf6 hands over the bishop pair to double nothing and to pull the black bishop onto f6, where the pawns can hit it later.
10. 5… Bxf6 Recaptured
11. 6. e4 e4, the centre
12. 6… O-O Black castles

Castling long

1. 7. Bd3 The bishop to d3 The diagonal that ends at h7, and it never leaves it. Twenty-seven half-moves later it lands there.
2. 7… g6 g6, blocking it
3. 8. Qe2 The queen to e2
4. 8… Bg7 The bishop to g7
5. 9. c3 c3, tidying
6. 9… Nc6 Developing
7. 10. O-O-O White castles long Kings on opposite wings again, and this time it is the stronger player who gets to push first.
8. 10… d5 d5, closing the centre
9. 11. e5 e5, closing it further
10. 11… b6 b6, starting on the other side

The pawns collide

1. 12. h4 h4 — the pawn goes
2. 12… h6 h6, trying to stop it
3. 13. Rdg1 The rook to g1 Behind the g-pawn, before the g-pawn has moved.
4. 13… Ne7 The knight to e7
5. 14. g4 g4, the second pawn
6. 14… f4 f4, trying to shut it out
7. 15. h5 h5, past
8. 15… g5 g5, blocking again Black stops the pawns with pawns of his own. It works for exactly one move.
9. 16. Nxg5 The knight, on g5 Given away so that the h-pawn recaptures — because a pawn on g5 is a pawn that is not on h6.
10. 16… hxg5 Taken

The pawn on h6

1. 17. h6 h6 — and it stays The pawn steps past the bishop and cuts it off from g7 for good. From this moment Black’s king has no square on the diagonal and does not know it yet.
2. 17… Bh8 The bishop to the corner
3. 18. Nf3 The second knight comes to f3
4. 18… c5 c5, counting on the queenside
5. 19. Nxg5 And it takes on g5 too The second knight lands on the square the first one died on, covering h7 and f7.
6. 19… cxd4 Taking in the centre — too slow
7. 20. Bh7# Checkmate, on h7 The bishop that came to d3 on move seven finally lands on h7, held by the knight on g5. The pawn on h6 covers g7; h8 and f8 are Black’s own bishop and rook.