Boxers hold their arms and hands close to their body so as to shield themselves from attack. Tucked-in elbows, for example, protect the ribs and vital organs from incoming punches to the midsection. It’s just good defense.
In this week’s position black has not tucked in its elbows. The three pawns on f5, g6, and h5 that shield their king when held close on the 7th rank have advanced aggressively, leaving their liege exposed. With this hint in mind, please find how white puts black on the ropes.
In an active middle-game, like in this week’s position, it is risky to leave your king exposed. White proves the point with bishop to c4, check. Black’s best reply is to accept the sacrifice and not retreat the king.
After the black’s b5 pawn takes the bishop, white’s queen retakes the pawn on c4 with check. Moving the black king to the 7th rank or h8 is worse than black’s best reply knight to f7, blocking the check. If instead the king retreats to h8, for instance, white’s queen moves to c7. This indirectly forks black’s bishop and knight. The threat to the knight is indirect because of the simultaneous attack by white’s queen and rook (see next diagram).
After black blocks the queen check with knight to f7, white’s e5 pawn advances to e6, forking black’s knights (see next diagram).
From this position, the next, best few moves are clear. Black’s d7 knight hops over to f6 and white e6 pawn takes the knight on f7 with check. Black’s queen evades the rook attack and captures white’s pawn on f7.
White then trades queens on f7 and black retakes with its rook, since taking with the king allows white’s knight to check from g5. White still moves its knight to g5, threatening the rook. The rook slides over to g7 and white’s rook on d1 penetrates black’s position and moves to the sixth rank (see next diagram).
White’s rooks are coordinated and aiming to double on the 6th rank, as white’s knight leans heavily into black’s position. Black’s rooks, by contrast, are not coordinated and its knight is struggling to survive.
The lesson this week is that in an active middle-game keep your elbows tucked in.
Reach Eric Morrow at ericmorrowlaw@gmail.com or (505) 327-7121.
