Windmill_(chess)

Windmill (chess)

Windmill (chess)

Chess tactic

In chess, a windmill (or seesaw)[1][2] is a tactic in which a piece repeatedly gains material while simultaneously creating an inescapable series of alternating direct and discovered checks. Because the opponent must attend to check every move, they are unable to prevent their pieces from being captured; thus, windmills can be extremely powerful. A windmill most commonly consists of a rook supported by a bishop.

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Examples

Torre vs. Lasker

abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
e8 black rook
f8 black knight
g8 black king
a7 black pawn
b7 black bishop
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
d6 black pawn
e6 black pawn
h6 black pawn
b5 black queen
g5 white bishop
h5 white queen
b4 white pawn
d4 white pawn
e3 white knight
g3 white rook
a2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
e1 white rook
g1 white king
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
White to make his 25th move

In the position diagrammed, from the game Carlos Torre–Emanuel Lasker, Moscow 1925,[3] White sacrifices his queen in order to set up the windmill:

25. Bf6!!

Black must accept the sacrifice, as his own queen is unprotected, 25...g5 26.Qxh6 leads to unstoppable mate on g7 or h8, and any other attempt to stop the windmill would simply give White the queen.

25... Qxh5 26. Rxg7+ Kh8 27. Rxf7+

White gives discovered check by the bishop.

27... Kg8 28. Rg7+ Kh8 29. Rxb7+

White simply repeats the checking cycle, capturing as many pieces as he can with his rook.

29... Kg8 30. Rg7+ Kh8 31. Rg5+ Kh7 32. Rxh5

White concludes the windmill by taking the black queen. Black forked White's rook and bishop with 32... Kg6, but White still emerged three pawns ahead after 33.Rh3 Kxf6 34.Rxh6+ and went on to win.

Byrne vs. Fischer

abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
e8 black rook
g8 black king
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black bishop
h7 black pawn
b6 black queen
c6 black pawn
g6 black pawn
c5 white bishop
c4 white bishop
d4 white pawn
g4 black bishop
a3 white queen
c3 black knight
f3 white knight
a2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
d1 white rook
f1 white king
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Black to make his 17th move

The Game of the Century featured a windmill involving a knight and a bishop. The game continued from the diagrammed position as follows:

17... Be6!!

Black sacrifices his queen in order to initiate an attack.

18. Bxb6?

Accepting the sacrifice allows Black to set up the windmill.

18... Bxc4+ 19. Kg1 Ne2+ 20. Kf1 Nxd4+ 21. Kg1 Ne2+ 22. Kf1 Nc3+ 23. Kg1 axb6

Black emerges with an overwhelming advantage.

References

  1. [1]
    Edward Winter. "The Chess Seesaw".
  2. [2]
    David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed. 1992), Oxford University Press, p. 363. ISBN 0-19-866164-9.
  3. [3]
    "Carlos Torre Repetto vs. Emanuel Lasker, Moscow (1925)". Chessgames.com.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Windmill_(chess), and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.