LESSON OF THE MONTH
On this board, it is white to move. As in all chess positions, it is your goal to try very hard to find the best move you can every time. Here, white has many choices for single attack.
For example: Q-b7 check, Q-h3 check, or Q-c6 check. In fact, there are a total of 6 possible checks here with white to move first. (See if you can find them all!) Or -- the white queen could attack the black rook as in Q-c3, or Q-a6. These moves appear to be ineffective. For example, if the white queen checks the black king
from h3 the king simply sidesteps away from the check. If the white queen attacks the black rook on a1, the rook simply moves to safety somewhere. And if the white queen attacks the black rook from a6, then the rook simply captures the queen! White has so many choices in this seemingly simple position. After all, there are only 4 chesspieces on the board! So--
What is white's best move?
Hint: Most single attacks are easy to escape from, but most double attacks (attacking two points on the chessboard at the same time) are very difficult to escape from. You only have one move at a time, so it is difficult to escape from double attacks!
 Click Here for the Solution
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Solution to LESSON OF THE MONTH -- double attack
The queen is much stronger than the rook. But the rook is also a strong attacking piece and can put up a tough defense and perhaps play out the game to the
50-move draw rule. It would be much easier to win if white could get rid of the rook. So we employ the principle of tactics called
double attack!
White's first move:
Q-h8 check! The queen is now attacking
BOTH the black king on
h1,
AND the black rook on
a1. The black king must get out of check
immediately, then the queen captures the rook on
a1 on the next move. The rest of white's game is easy.
NOTE: Checkmate with king and queen versus king is clearly illustrated in VOLUME 2 of the 
DVD series.
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