How to Retreat and Win: Test Your Skills!

Hi, ChessKids!

Did you know that BoundingOwl wrote a chess book? It's called My First Chess Book: 35 Easy and Fun Chess-Based Activities for Children Ages 7 Years+ by Jessica E. Prescott.

It's an activity book that starts out easy, but gets harder. There are games like ghost chess, deny, and bughouse that you'll really like! Teach your parents and siblings how to play! You can ask for it at your local bookstore, or get it on Amazon.

Now, on to today's lesson!

Visually, physically, and pyschologically (in your head), it makes a lot of sense to us to move forward. Playing chess is no different.

We are naturally better at finding attacking moves, especially ones where pieces move away from us. Patzers used to be described as "pushing wood." And of course, the pieces do have to move away from their starting positions, toward the opponent, etc.

But sometimes, the best move is a backward one!!

Here is an example. This puzzle will require a little "fantasy chess" thinking. It's almost mate for white, but for the black knights! So, get rid of them! Black is stuck. Ng5 doesn't work because Black does not have to capture you.

Click to see all the variations!

These puzzles will not be strategic redeployments (which are also super important!). They are, instead, tactics: mates in one, two, or three. And even though the knights or queens will be retreating, the mates will be forced!

I've heard it said that the backward diagonal queen move is the MOST difficult to see! Isn't that weird! But don't you think it's true, too?!

Remember, with puzzles, it's accuracy, not speed, that is most valuable to your training.

Let's start with an easy mate in one. White to move.

Now that you've practiced moving your eyes "backward" a bit, here's a mate-in-two for White! TWO backwards moves!

You can ask BoundingOwl (Mrs. Jessica E. Prescott) questions here.

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