Sunday, April 23, 2006

In our chess journeys, we will discover the concept of a windmill. No, it has no relation to Don Quixote. It is, in fact, a form of discovered attack in combination with a forced move. Once this concept becomes clear in our minds, then we might find several examples in the chess games databases.

Here's one from Moscow, 1925. Carlos Torre turns the windmill on his hapless opponent who was no other than Emmanuel Lasker. I've read that there is some question over the authenticity of this game, and if it was in fact a real game then it is said that Lasker was severely distracted by a telegram from his wife that he fell into this helpless situation.

It is black's move, and black captures the white queen on h5, 1... Qh5. Yum! That's a whole queen. So, here we go, 2. Rg7+, Kh8 forced. 3. Rf7+, Kg8... and there you see the basic mechanism of a windmill. Play continued 4. Rg7+, Kh8 5. Rb7+, Kg8 6. Rg7+, Kh8 7. Rg5+, Kh8 8. Rh5 and white manages to recapture a queen!

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