This is the painting ‘Cornered’ by G.C. Hindley circa 1900
A large copy of this painting hangs on the wall of the Edinburgh Chess Club.
We have on some evenings re-created the position in the painting on the board
We still debate if the piece on g1 is a White Rook or a White Bishop
For effect I of course have made it a Rook to allow the Smothered Mate.
[FEN "1R4K1/6PP/8/3q2n1/8/Q7/2R5/4k3 w - - 0 1"]
1. Kh8 Nf7+ 2. Kg8 Nh6+ 3. Kh8 Qg8+ 4. Rxg8 Nf7
From Comics to Paintings to Books. Chess Book. A Chess Pop-Up Book
Wait for it...
Back to the position in the painting.
There are more than 5,000 examples of a Queen and two Rooks taking
on a Queen and one Knight on RHP. White wins the vast majority but....
Muxagata - gina0104 RHP 2017
Black played 48...Rxf2+ 49.Qxf2 (28.Re2 is OK)
49...Qd3 Checkmate.
edevo - roelfj RHP 2017
[FEN "2r3k1/5p2/pq4p1/1p6/3RQP2/7n/PP5P/5R1K w - - 0 33"]
33. f5 Rc1 {A piece of desperation by Black. White should just play Qe8+ then Qe5+ and then take on c1.} 34. Rxc1 {OOPS!} 34... Nf2+ 35. Kg2 Nxe4 {Again White misses an important check. Rc8+ now would have led to a probable draw.} 36. Rxe4 Qb7 37. Re1 gxf5 {The Rook is lost. Black won.}
thomasverwer - phatband RHP 2017
[FEN "8/1R2n3/PQ3pk1/3qp3/8/5P2/1P2n1PP/5RK1 w - - 0 40"]
40. Kf2 {There was nothing wrong with Kh1.} 40... Qd2 {The last roll of the dice.} 41. Rxe7 {Qe3 wins, now it is lost.} 41... Nf4+ 42. Kg3 Qxg2+ 43. Kh4 Qh3# {Checkmate.}
The White King chased by Queen and Knight goes to all the wrong squares.
Gabo03 - Venom06 RHP 2017
[FEN "QR6/6Rp/2p1k3/4P3/8/4PK2/n6P/5q2 w - - 0 38"]
38. Ke4 Qf5+ 39. Kd4 Qxe5+ 40. Kd3 {Black cannot take on g7 because the a2 Knight hangs with a check.} 40... Qc3+ 41. Ke4 Qe5+ 42. Kf3 Qf6+ 43. Ke2 {White now manages to let Black to take the g2 Rook with a check.} 43... Nc3+ 44. Kd2 Ne4+ 45. Ke2 Qf2+ 46. Kd3 Nc5+ 47. Kc4 Qc2+ 48. Kb4 Nd3+ 49. Ka5 Qa2+ 50. Kb6 Qb2+ 51. Ka7 {Kxc6. Black no more than a perpetual check.} 51... Qxg7+ {Now White walks into a mating net.} 52. Kb6 Qb2+ 53. Kc7 Qe5+ 54. Kc8 Kd6 55. Qa3+ Nc5 56. Qa5 Qe6+ 57. Kd8 Qd7
In this next example White drops both Rooks and gets mated.
peter wilton - Flipperwaldt RHP 2017
[FEN "Q7/6pk/p2p3p/2n5/4Pp1q/P4P2/8/R4RK1 w - - 0 32"]
32. Rf2 Qg3+ {Now Rg2. What has happened in these games is that the two Rooks player has simply relaxed.} 33. Kf1 Nd3 34. Raa2 Qh3+ 35. Rg2 Qh1+ 36. Ke2 Qxg2+ 37. Kxd3 Qxa2 {Black is back in the game. White now constructs his own mating net.} 38. Qxa6 Qb3+ 39. Kd4 Qxf3 40. Qd3 Qf2+ 41. Kd5 Qe3 42. Kc4 Qc1+ {Now Kb3 has to be played.} 43. Kd4 {OOPS!} 43... Qc5 {Checkmate.}
In this last sight seeing tour of misery White should have settled for a perpetual.
dcpk - sardodos RHP 2016
[FEN "6k1/p2q4/1p1p2p1/7p/1PPnrP1P/P2Q4/5P2/R4RK1 w - - 0 30"]
30. Qxe4 Qg4+ {Now White has go Kh1 to g1 to h1 but two Rooks up they do not want to cede a draw.} 31. Qg2 {A success. This game will not be a draw.} 31... Nf3+ 32. Kh1 Qxh4+ 33. Qh2 Qxh2 {Instead it is a Black win.}
Heard good reports about this book and only recently managed to get a copy
from a second hand shop for 50p. (I now wait to get all my books 2nd hand).
It’s very good and has a rather unique introduction to the game.
It does not introduce the reader to algebraic notation till page 251.
Usually that is one of the first things a beginners book explains.
Up to page 251 the author, James Eade, uses diagrams with ‘ghosts’ to explain things.
Here he is pointing out that trap in Petroff 4.Qd1- e2 (see the ghost Queen on d1)
A minor point of interest here. 80 RHP players as Black have played 4...Nf6 here.
And most...not all...have lost their Queen to 5.Nc6+
I say ‘not all’ which is a perfect excuse for me to show an RHP game I gave
a few years ago. This is one my most favourite instructive games on RHP.
rmajoran - Daily Knight RHP 2011
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Nf6 {White now misses the chance to win the Queen with Nc6+ instead he goes for the h8 Rook.} 5. Ng6+ Be7 6. Nxh8 {White has a Rook in his rucksack but the Knight is trapped. In effect all he has won is the exchange. Most would have preferred winning the Queen.} 6... Kf8 {Actually a sly move. It looks like Black is heading off to pick up that h8 Knight. But in truth he vacating e8 for the lucky Black Queen.} 7. Qc4 {This threatens mate with Qxf7.} 7... d5 {Black stops the mate and....} 8. Qb3 Qe8 {...crosses his fingers. White must not move that d-pawn.} 9. d4 {OOPS! Check all Checks and double check all double checks.} 9... Bb4+ {Duel Daggers. The King must move when Double Checked.} 10. Kd1 {Only move. There is no choice, the King must move on a Double Check.} 10... Qe1# {Checkmated by the Black Queen who life was spared back on move 5.}
Using the ghost piece on the from square James used 11 diagrams to show the reader this.
It is White to play and draw.
[FEN "3B4/1r2p3/r2p1p2/bkp1P1p1/1p1P1PPp/p1P4P/PP1K4/3B4 w - - 0 1"]
1. Ba4+ Kxa4 {Black has no choice, his next 4 moves are all forced.} 2. b3+ Kb5 3. c4+ Kc6 4. d5+ Kd7 5. e6+ Kxd8 {It does not matter if Black takes this Bishop or not. If it is not taken White will never move it.} 6. f5 {Look at that. There is no way at all for Black to get past that forest of pawns. This is a draw. See next game.}
It is a wee bitty obvious that saboteur and iranpeyma also know of this study.
saboteur - iranpeyma RHP Challenge 2013
[FEN "3B4/1r2p3/r2p1p2/bkp1P1p1/1p1P1PPp/p1PK3P/PPB5/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Ba4+ Kxa4 2. b3+ Kb5 3. c4+ Kc6 4. d5+ Kd7 5. e6+ Kxd8 6. f5 Kc7 7. Ke4 Ra8 8. Kd3 Rbb8 9. Ke4 Rh8 10. Kf3 Kb6 11. Ke4 Rh7 12. Kf3 Rah8 13. Kg2 Rh5 14. Kf3 Kc7 15. Ke2 R8h6 16. Kd2 Rh8 17. Kc1 Bb6 18. Kb1 Kd8 19. Ka1 R8h6 20. Kb1 Ke8 21. Kc1 Rh8 22. Kd1 R8h7 23. Ke1 R7h6 24. Kf1 Rh8 25. Kg1 R5h6 26. Kh1 Rh5 27. Kh2 R5h6 28. Kg2 Bc7 29. Kf2 Rg8 30. Ke2 Rg7 31. Kd2 Rgh7 32. Kc2 Bb8 33. Kd3 Ba7 34. Ke3 Kf8 35. Kf3 Rh5 36. Ke4
