The ultimate weapon

by Jonathan Speelman
7/2/2023 – The double check is sometimes characterised as the “Atomic Bomb” of the chessboard. Since the checks come from two different lines, these can’t be blocked simultaneously by a single move, and therefore the king has to retreat. If there is no retreat square available, then it may be checkmate out of a clear sky! | Pictured: Aron Nimzowitsch
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The atomic bomb

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

This morning (Thursday) I was lying on the bed after a bath, stroking our beautiful black cat Zora (we also have a tabby Ginny) and wondering what to write here this week. I consulted Zora, but you’ll be astounded to hear that she didn’t answer directly, though I did consider a segue to “Black is OK!” just weeks after the sad news of Andras Adorjan’s death.

Instead, I finally decided on the double check, sometimes characterised as the “Atomic Bomb” of the chessboard, though today I suppose it should be the “Hydrogen Bomb”.

Jonathan MestelThe power of the double check is that, because they come from two different lines, these can’t be blocked simultaneously by a single move and therefore the king has to retreat. If there is no retreat square available, then it may be checkmate out of a clear sky — and even if there is, the duress the king is under can often lead to checkmate shortly afterwards.

I’ve got a number of examples of both of these, and then some more esoteric ones. Although double check is normally immensely strong, it isn’t invariably so, and can even be met by an enemy king move which gives checkmate itself in extreme circumstances. An idea I think of Jonathan Mestel’s (pictured).

Double check is all well and good, and you can’t check from three pieces using normal chess rules. But if you use the fairy piece known as nightrider which moves along “knight lines”, then treble checks become possible, using an en passant capture. You can even have treble check met by checkmate — and we finish with that and then a helpmate of my own, which I’ve used here before and depends on a double check.

Nightriders
From a1 the nightrider can go to all the squares marked!

The next column will be on July 16th. If you’ve got some other nice examples of double checks which you’d like me to consider using, then please either send them via the editorial address given or direct to me at jonathan@jspeelman.co.uk.

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This is a fampous example from a simulatnaeous display. It appears in one of Irving Chernev's books among other places. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 d6 5.d4 Nxe4?? Well it was in a simul. 6.d5 a6 7.Bd3 Nf6 8.dxc6 e4 9.Re1 d5
10.Be2 There are several better moves, but Nimzo was surely unable to resist this, and in a simul I'd feel the same. exf3? 11.cxb7 Bxb7 11...fxe2 12.bxa8Q 12.Bb5#
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nimzowitsch-Amateur-1–01910C66Pernau Simultaneous
Dubbert,S-Wiegmann,C-1–01995B40NRW-ch U152
Goslawski,N-Sitniewski,G-1–02001C41Bydgoszcz op-C9
Reti,R-Tartakower,S-1–01910B15Vienna
Pacak,M1885Witek,T21051–02007C15Rewal op-A 12th8
Sveshnikov,E2540Sherbakov,R25251–01991B30URS-ch586
Speelman,J--2023Tactical example
Belsitzman,Z-Rubinstein,A-0–11917C48Warsaw-ch
Bartel,M2641Szabo,G25401–02017B47TCh-HUN 2016-176.2
Anderssen,A-Suhle,B-1–01859C51Breslau m1
Dbl check met by mate!-JS's first solution-0–12022JDMN idea
Dbl check net by mate-with ep capiure-0–12022JDMN idea
Nightriders--2023intro
Triple checkmate--1854using nightrider
Nrider Triple check met by mate--2023Treble check met by mate
Speelman,J--2021Helpmate #3 using dblcheck

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Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.
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