Battery Play
Peter's Problem World with FIDE Master of Chess
Composition
Peter Wong
Note that Peter's articles, follow a chess problem
convention in using ‘S’ to represent the knight
(from the German word,
Springer). ‘N’ is reserved for a fairy piece called the nightrider.
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A
battery is an arrangement of two pieces capable of giving a
discovered attack.
The two pieces stand in line with their
target, usually the opposing king; when the front piece moves off the
line so that the long-range piece from behind attacks the king, the
battery is said to be opened or “fired”.
The battery is an often-seen device and
it sometimes appears as an incidental feature of a problem.
Here we look at six compositions where
the main
thematic play does revolve around the deployment of batteries. |
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In Problem 43, White’s rook +
bishop battery on the d-file cannot fire yet because of the black queen,
while the rook + knight battery on the 8th rank cannot open because the
knight is required to guard c7.
A good
key 1.Qb6! gives the black king a
flight on d7, and by attacking c7 threatens 2.Sf6. The black
queen has various
defences to this threat, and four of them permit the rook + bishop
battery to operate.
1…Qh5 2.Be2, 1…Qh4 2.Be4,
1…Qh3 2.Bf5, and 1…Qxg5+ 2.Bg6 – in each case the firing
bishop shuts off the black queen, i.e. closes a line the piece
controls.
1…Kd7 is answered by the
double-check 2.Bf5, and the
self-blocking 1…Qd7 enables a third white battery to be
activated, 2.Se6.
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43. Comins
Mansfield
Galitzky Memorial Tourney
1964
1st Hon. Mention
     
    
 
Mate in 2 |
One last defence, 1…e6, is met by
2.Qd6.
Problem
44 makes use of
set play that involves prominent black checks, 1…Qb5+ 2.Sdc6, 1…Qh3+
2.Se6, and 1…Qxd4+ 2.Q or Bxd4.
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44. Marcel
Segers
Schackspelaren
1933
1st Prize
Mate in 2 |
The latter
variation, in which White has equally playable alternatives,
represents a
dual. This is a flaw, especially if the dual occurs in a main
variation, though in this instance the fault isn’t serious because it
happens only in the set play.
The first two set variations exemplify
cross-checks, where White responds to a check by interposing a
piece, and simultaneously delivers check or mate.
All of these set mates are
changed by the key, 1.Qf8! (threat: 2.Qc8), which forms
another battery. Now three new cross-checks follow: 1…Qb5+
2.Sec6, 1…Qh3+ Sef5, and 1…Qxd4+ 2.Sd5.
Other black queen defences allow White to
exploit the unpin of the knight: 1…Qxe4 2.Sb3, and 1…Qg3 2.Se6. |
A
half-battery set-up is shown in 45. Here two pieces stand
between the line-piece and the enemy king, so that moving either of the
intermediate pieces off the line would produce a different battery with the
remaining piece.
Have a
go at solving 48, which poses the question of how to fend off the
black rook with the pair of white knights.
48. John Rice
Miniature Chess Problems
From Many Countries 1981
Mate in 2
Solution
to Problem 48 (To display, hold down your mouse button and select the
text below)
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>Tries: 1.Sh6? (or
1.Sgf6?) Re1!, 1.Sg7?
Rd1! Key: 1.Se7!
(threat: 2.S8-any),
1…Rd1 2.Sd6, 1..Rf1+
2.Sf6, 1…Rg1 2.Sg7.>
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Chess Composition
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