Bishops Bombard the Castle Part 2

The Queen Hunts the King and The Bishops Bombard the Castle Part 2 by, Ms Jessica Martin (aka BoundingOwl)

 

Howdy y'all!  What if you could make your opponent shout, "What?! OH NO!!"  And then realize and mutter, "Oh yeah, that's a PIN....."  I did it before.  It's fun! 

 

Last week we learned about the Queen and Bishop helper mates by solving puzzles working backward.  This week we will crash into the castle using batteries and pins.  Pins are very sneaky tactics.  This is a sneaky frog.  Have you heard frog's calls?  Practice on your next road trip with your parents.  They will be very impressed.

 

We will start with an easy mate in one, to get you familiar with the pattern.

 

Now you do a mate in two!  Where is the pin?  How can you exploit, or, take advantage, of the pinned piece?

 

 

Super!  Now we get to sacrifice to create our fantasy pin position.  Fantasy positions are like ones where you get to place pieces anywhere in your mind.  Like, "Gee, wouldn't it be cool if I could put my knight on e7?  Then I would fork the king and queen!"  And then all you have to do is make the board look like the one in your head!  Also, you could play the crazy fun team game: bughouse.

 

 

 

Last puzzle.  This is mate in four, but it's super easy, because you know the pattern.  Chess is patterns, remember.  Each move is forcing, giving the king basically no options. 

 

 

Here is a review of the ideas you learned this week and last week:

1.  Queens and bishops work together in batteries.

2.  Sometimes they can create a Boden's Mate together.

3.  Lead with the bishop to trap the king in the corner if he's going to escape.

4.  Make forcing moves like checks to get the king into your fantasy position.

5.  See if you can exploit a pin!

6.  Secretly smile to yourself when you find a great mate!

See you next week checkmaters!