In the Battle of Cannae (216 B.C.), the Carthaginian General Hannibal deflected the Romans toward the center and then flanked the Romans from behind, encircling the Romans with a devastating attack. Rome’s causalities and losses were roughly 80,000 to Carthage’s 5,500.
Deflection is a tactic both effective in war and chess. In this week’s position, white deflects black’s defender away from its post, which invites checkmate.
White’s knight keeps the black king off the g7 square, as white’s light-squared bishop dominates the b3-g8 diagonal. White’s dark-square bishop eyes black’s f6 pawn. But black’s queen guards this pawn and protects black’s back rank (the eighth rank).
Like lightning from the sky, white’s rook strikes from e8, checking black and forcing black’s queen to abandon its post and capture the rook. White’s dark-square bishop next captures black’s f6 pawn, attacking black’s king. The bishop pair checkmates black (see next diagram).
The point of deflection is to lure or force enemy pieces to bad squares, like when General Washington won the Siege of Yorktown with feints, which fatally diverted the British away from their positions. History shows this tactic is worth looking out for. Just don’t get caught looking the wrong way.
Reach Eric Morrow at ericmorrowlaw@gmail.com or (505) 327-7121.
