The Rook Offered Twice on f6

The game, move by move

The Austrian Attack

1. 1. d4 Queen’s pawn
2. 1… d6 d6, waiting
3. 2. e4 The second centre pawn
4. 2… Nf6 The knight out
5. 3. Nc3 Developing
6. 3… g6 The fianchetto
7. 4. f4 f4 — four pawns abreast The Austrian Attack, and it is what Marshall wanted: the f-pawn is going to end up on f6 and stay there.
8. 4… Bg7 The bishop on the diagonal
9. 5. e5 e5, hitting the knight
10. 5… dxe5 Taken
11. 6. fxe5 Recaptured — a pawn on e5
12. 6… Nd5 The knight to d5

A pawn wedged on f6

1. 7. Nf3 Developing
2. 7… Nc6 And Black’s second knight
3. 8. Bc4 The bishop at f7
4. 8… e6 e6, blocking it
5. 9. Bg5 The bishop to g5
6. 9… Nxc3 The knights come off
7. 10. bxc3 Recaptured towards the centre
8. 10… Ne7 The knight to e7
9. 11. O-O White castles
10. 11… h6 h6, asking about the bishop
11. 12. Bf6 Bf6 — the offer It cannot be taken by the pawn and cannot be left alone. Whatever Black does, White ends up with a man on f6.
12. 12… Bxf6 The bishops come off
13. 13. exf6 The pawn takes f6 And there it stays for six moves — a white pawn on the sixth rank next to a king who has not castled.
14. 13… Nf5 The knight to f5
15. 14. Qe2 The queen to e2
16. 14… Qxf6 The pawn taken at last

Both rooks come up

1. 15. g4 g4, driving the knight
2. 15… Nd6 The knight to d6
3. 16. Ne5 The knight to e5 The outpost, and it is the piece that starts the finish sixteen half-moves from now.
4. 16… Qe7 The queen steps back
5. 17. Bd3 The bishop to d3 Onto the diagonal at h7 — and at the very end it is this bishop that covers g6 and f5.
6. 17… O-O Black castles
7. 18. Rf2 The rook lifts to f2
8. 18… Kg7 The king steps to g7
9. 19. Raf1 Both rooks on the file
10. 19… Bd7 Developing at last
11. 20. Rf6 The rook, on f6 It stands in front of the king defended by nothing, and taking it costs Black the queen for a rook — which is not, in the end, the problem.
12. 20… Rg8 The rook steps aside

Everything onto f6

1. 21. Nxg6 The knight takes g6 Now the rook on f6 has to be taken: the knight is attacking the queen on e7, and leaving both of them costs more.
2. 21… Qxf6 The queen takes the rook
3. 22. Rxf6 And the second rook takes back On the same square. The king has to take it — g7 and g5 are covered by the queen on e2 through e5, and nothing else can reach f6.
4. 22… Kxf6 Taken, and the king is on f6
5. 23. Qe5# Checkmate The queen steps to e5. She covers f5, g7 and g5; the bishop on d3 covers g6 and f5; the knight on g6 covers e5 and e7; the pawn on g4 covers f5 and the pawn on d4 covers e5 — and e6 and f7 are Black’s own pawns.