Beyond the basic tactics of Pins and Forks, lies the creative avenue of advanced tactics like Discovered Attack, Double Checks and Combinations! Combining different tactical and strategic elements can help us create a beautiful piece of art over the board in the form of a unique and well-played chess game. Let's level up by diving into the world of advanced chess tactics!
Discovered Attack: Imagine our Rook lurking behind our Bishop, placed on the same file, seemingly harmless. The opponent’s Queen is on the same file as these 2 pieces, but for the time being, the Bishop acts as a wall between our Rook and the opponent’s Queen, thus safeguarding her. Suddenly, we move the Bishop out of the way, capturing a Knight on the side. While we moved our Bishop, we simultaneously unleashed the Rook’s hidden power! Now the Opponent has not only parted with a Knight but his Queen is also exposed to the Rook’s direct attack. He will have to choose between re-capturing the Bishop and giving up his Queen or moving the Queen out of harm’s way and losing his Knight for free.
This is the essence of a Discovered Attack; a piece, either a Bishop, Rook, or Queen, suddenly attacks an opponent’s piece when another piece of our own that was previously blocking it’s path moves out of the way.
Q: What will you play as White?
A: As soon as the Bishop moves from the d4 square, it simultaneously opens up a path for the Rook on d1, who will now attack the Black Queen on d7. 1. Bf6! is a strong move here, capturing the Knight. If Black captures back with the pawn or Bishop, we sneakily capture the Queen on d7! In this case, we had to be careful as well; if the Rook on d1 had been undefended then Black would have simply captured 1…Qd1! However, it is sufficiently protected by not one, but 3 of White’s pieces and all is well for White.
Discovered Check: The twin of the Discovered attack! When the result of moving the blockading piece out of the way is a Check to the opponent’s King, it is called a Discovered Check.
In the Diagram position, there are many squares available for the White Knight. Moving it to any of these squares will result in a Discovered Check, as it will unleash the White Queen’s wrath directly on the Black King! However, one square is more potent than the others. Can you find it?
Q: Where will you move the White Knight?
A: 1. Ne6! A Brilliant move. Now the Queen on g3 gives a Check to the Black King on g8! Black must move the King away from the ‘g’ file, as all other avenues to guard his King against the check are unavailable in the position. Moreover, the Knight on e6 does an important job of controlling the f8 square. So Black’s only option is to reply 1…Kh8. Now, we know that the squares around a castled King like f7, g7 and h7 are vulnerable to attack and Checkmating ideas. The Knight on e6 not only controls f8 but also g7. Using this knowledge, we find the next move: 2. Qg7! With the support of the White Knight on e6, the White Queen corners the Black King and delivers Checkmate! To conclude 1. Ne6 is the best move in the diagram position, we must find the continuation of black’s reply and white’s reply to that. Such a series of moves is known as a Combination!
Combination: This is essentially a planned sequence of moves combining different tactical ideas, executed to gain an advantage conduct a decisive attack or Checkmate the opponent! In the above example, we combined the tactic of a discovered check with a typical checkmate idea on g7, to find the exact sequence of moves.
Double Check: A Double Check can occur only in case of a Discovered Attack. It is exactly what the name suggests - a check delivered to the king by two pieces simultaneously with a single move. This tactic forces the king to move immediately, as capturing or blocking both the pieces on the same move is impossible.
In the Diagram Position, the Black King is on the same file as the White Rook, but the Bishop on d4 guards it from a Check at the moment.
Q: Can you deliver a Double Check on the Black King?
A: White plays 1. Bf6! With this move, not only the Bishop delivers a check from f6, but it also unleashes the Rook’s attack on the King, thus resulting in a Double Check! [Since the e7 square is still controlled by the White Bishop and the Black Knight is placed on e8, Black’s King has only one square available: c8. So Black plays 1…Kc8. To this White delivers a Back Rank Checkmate with 2. Rd8!! thanks to the support of the Bishop on f6. White’s series of 2 moves that we witnessed here is another example of a Combination!]
(Soumya Swaminathan is an International Master and Woman Grandmaster in Chess. She has been World Junior Champion and Commonwealth Gold Medalist)
