Herrington v. Lamon2000

This week’s position is from an Internet game of Preston Herrington’s. By day, Preston is a pediatrician; by night, well, he’s still a pediatrician. But when he’s not providing medical care to children, he occasionally beats up on their egos.

Here, Lamon2000 is black with the move. He saw that he could win a piece.

How?

Why did Herrington tempt him with this gift?

In chess notation, the board is a grid: the vertical columns are numbered “1” through “8;” the horizontal rows, “a” through “h.” Each square on the board is identified by a specific letter and number. For example, if the black queen at d7 were to move to d1, checking white, the notation would be Qd1+ (q=queen, n=knight, r=rook,+=check, etc. ).

Lamon2000 was seduced by Qd1+. After Herrington moved his king to f2, Lamon2000 accepted the rook as a gift with his queen.

The rook was a lure. The black queen’s journey allowed Herrington to play Qc6+. Black must block the check with his rook.

White now wins with one of four moves. They exploit the queen pin on the rook and black’s vulnerable back rank. Moving the knight to e5 or the rook to d2 immediately threaten mate on d7. Moving the rook to b2 or having it capture the pawn on a7 both threaten mate with a rook check on the 8th rank.

Herrington opted for possibly the most precise move, namely moving the knight to e5. Black’s queen temporally protects its d7 rook with Qd1. White’s rook slides over to b2, threatening Rb8 mate. Black creates an air hole for his king by moving his e7 pawn to e6.

Best play now is: 1. Rb8+ Ke7; 2. Qc5+ Qd6; 3. Nc6+ Kf6; 4. Qg5 mate.

After the black queen takes white’s rook on h1, perhaps white’s best practical and simplest move is sliding the rook from a2 to d2. This threatens mate and prevents the black queen from guarding its rook on d7. Black stops mate by moving its f7 pawn to f6, creating an escape square on f7. White then wins black’s rook on d7 with its rook and mates black easily in several lines.

The lesson here is that if you see a combination that wins a piece, don’t stop calculating. You should assess whether that piece is a Trojan horse — or rook.