Page:The chess-player's text book.djvu/44
behind, or masked by his own King. White can Check-mate in three moves. Write out the situation of the men. and the moves by which the Check-mate is given thus :—
Position.
| WHITE. | BLACK. |
| K. at his 6th.
R. at his K.'s 4th. |
K. at his sq. |
White to play first, and Check-mate in three moves.
Solution.
| WHITE. | BLACK. |
| 1. R. to K's sq.
(This is what players technically call a coup de repos; the purpose of it is to force Black to move either to right or left, and then, that
by cutting him off from escape, on whichever side he goes, oblige him to return and face the White King again.)
|
1. K. to Q's sq.
(If he go to his B.'s sq. you may play your Rook to K. Kt's sq., and by thus commanding all the squares on that file, compel him to go back again.)
|
| 2. R. to Q. B.'s sq.
(You seize command of the open file by this move, and leave the King no square but his own to fly to.)
|
2. K. to his sq. |
| 3. R. to Q. B.'s 8th. Check-mate. | |
By setting up these Pieces in similar situations, and finding out the way to give the Check-mate a few times, you will discover the principle, and, knowing that, are not likely to have much difficulty in dealing the coup de grace, when you are fortunate enough to be left with such an advantage against an opponent.
This, however, is only an occasional case : it will generally happen that your adversary, even when you have a preponderance of power, has some man left upon the board besides his King, and when he has, the difficulty of Check-mating him is much enhanced. We shall give you several examples of this anon : in the meantime we proceed to show :—