Castling Into It

The game, move by move

A Steinitz Defence

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. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez The bishop to b5, at the knight that is holding e5. It never moves off that diagonal and at the end it is on a6, holding b7.
6. 3… d6 d6 — the Steinitz Defence Solid and slow, and Steinitz played it for years. It gives White the space and asks him to do something with it.
7. 4. d4 d4, at the middle
8. 4… f6 f6, propping up e5 It holds the pawn and it shuts the king’s own bishop in. Both halves of that matter in ten moves.
9. 5. c3 c3
10. 5… Bg4 The bishop to g4
11. 6. h3 h3, asking
12. 6… Bh5 Bh5 The bishop goes to h5, as far from the queenside as it can get. Everything that happens next happens on the other wing.
13. 7. Nbd2 The knight to d2
14. 7… Be7 Be7

The queen to a4

1. 8. Qa4 The queen to a4 — read the diagonal She stands on a4 with the bishop on b5 in front of her, both aimed at c6, both on the side of the board Black is about to move his king to.
2. 8… Qd7 The queen to d7, defending
3. 9. d5 d5, at the knight
4. 9… O-O-O Black castles long Not a blunder in the ordinary sense — it takes the king out of an open centre, which is usually right. It is also two moves from mate, because the queen and the bishop are already there.

Mated on a8

1. 10. dxc6 The pawn takes the knight on c6 Not the piece for its own sake: what this does is force a pawn recapture that opens the b-file with the king on it.
2. 10… bxc6 Recaptured — and the file is open
3. 11. Ba6+ Check from a6 The bishop steps to a6, where it holds b7 for the rest of the game. It is the reason the queen can go there.
4. 11… Kb8 Kb8 — the only square
5. 12. Qb3+ Check from b3, on the open file
6. 12… Ka8 Ka8 — the corner
7. 13. Qb7# Checkmate, on b7 The queen steps into b7 next to the king, held by the bishop on a6. She covers b8; a7 is Black’s own pawn. Thirteen moves, and one capture before the mate.