Both Rooks, and a Bishop on h4

The game, move by move

An Italian Game

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. Nf3 The knight out
4. 2… d6 d6, quiet
5. 3. Bc4 The bishop at f7
6. 3… Nc6 Developing
7. 4. c3 c3, preparing d4
8. 4… Bg4 Pinning the knight
9. 5. Qb3 The queen to b3 Two pieces at f7 and a queen who is going to spend the rest of the game on the other side of the board.
10. 5… Qd7 The queen defends

Everything traded on f7

1. 6. Ng5 The knight to g5
2. 6… Nh6 Nh6, holding f7
3. 7. Bxf7+ The bishop takes f7, with check
4. 7… Nxf7 Taken
5. 8. Nxf7 The knight takes back
6. 8… Qxf7 And the queen takes the knight Everything on f7 has come off and the count is level. What is not level is where the pieces are: White’s queen is on b3 and every black piece is looking at the centre.

The rooks collected

1. 9. Qxb7 The pawn on b7, taken
2. 9… Kd7 The king steps to d7 Giving up the rook in the corner rather than spending a move saving it.
3. 10. Qxa8 The first rook, taken
4. 10… Qc4 The queen to c4 Onto the diagonal that ends at f1, and one square from d3.
5. 11. f3 f3, to break the pin
6. 11… Bxf3 The bishop, given on f3 A piece for a pawn, to open the g-file and, more to the point, to pull the pawn off f3 so that d3 is reachable.
7. 12. gxf3 Taken
8. 12… Nd4 The knight to d4 Offered too. It hits c2 and f3 and it is going to be taken, and the point is the tempo.

The queen on d3

1. 13. d3 d3, blocking the diagonal
2. 13… Qxd3 The queen takes it From d3 she covers d1, e2, f1 and d2. The white king has exactly one square left, and it is f2.
3. 14. cxd4 The knight, taken
4. 14… Be7 The bishop comes out Its first move of the game, to e7, on its way to h4 — where it covers f2, the last square.
5. 15. Qxh8 The second rook, taken White is a rook, a knight and two pawns ahead and there is nothing at all he can do about the next move.
6. 15… Bh4# Checkmate, on h4 The bishop lands on h4 and covers f2. The queen on d3 covers f1, d1, e2 and d2 — and every white piece that could help is somewhere else on the board.