THE MONEY BARS CHECKMATE - HAND OVER HAND, ROOK LEAP FROGGING ROOK!

THE MONKEY BARS CHECKMATE

HOW YOU CAN ALWAYS WIN WHEN YOU ARE UP TWO ROOKS!

This is one of our basic checkmates - and an easy checkmate to score with when you are up two whole Rooks! The reason why this checkmate is so easy is because:

1. Kings are slow runners!
2. Rooks, though big and a little clumsy, are powerful and strong runners.
3. Kings move one square at a time - in any direction. Unless they are able to use the special move "castles" - which is not relevant here.
4. Rooks move along "FILES" and "RANKS" - as far as they can "see".

WHITE HAS A WIN - TIME TO DO THE LEAP FROGGING ROOKS CHECKMATE!

ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, READY... GO!

1. Ra3 - Ra5 gives a check to the Black King. Why?

PSSST! MY ROOK IS LOOKING AT YOUR KING!

In the position up above you can see the RED ARROW pointing at the Black King - that is to show that the Rook on a5 is looking at him or attacking him. This is because Rooks can look both up and down - along files - and from side to side - along ranks. The red arrow is on the 5th rank which is labeled on the side of the board*.

*Remember that you can always find the name of any square by cross referencing it by file and rank. So when I wrote "a5" this means the square on the a-file and on the 5th rank.

RUN FOREST, RUN!

1. ...Kh5 - g6.

If our or our opponent's King is in check then we have a list of possible options that we should go through to make sure that it is either a check or to see if it is a checkmate.

THE LIST:
1.) Can the piece looking at my King be CAPTURED?
2.) Can I put one of the King's friends - one of my other pieces - in the way so as to BLOCK the check?
3.) Can my King RUN AWAY to one of the surrounding squares around him?

So we can rule out 1 and 2 on our list and so that only leaves option 3. Which is to move the King and is the option that the player of the Black pieces had to take. No taking passes on our turn!

Now the Black King can no longer cross the 5th rank as those square are attacked by the White Rook on the a5 square. Remember the Rook not only looks up and down the a-file but also along this 5th rank. All at once! He must eat a lot of carrots to have such good vision!!

TIME FOR A LEAP FROGGING ROOK MOVE!

Now it is the turn for the Rook on b4 and so here is where we are in this position:

1. Ra3 - a5 + Kh5 - g6
2. Rb4 - b6 +

The "+" means check in chess notation.

"CHECK"!

So each Rook is leaping over the other forcing the Black King to the back rank where he will eventually be checkmated. Notice that in the above position that this King is to far away to run at either of the Rooks. Even if he could the Rooks could then zoom into action and go over to the other side of the board!

RUN FOREST, RUN!

1. Ra3 - a5 + Kh5 - g6
2. Rb4 - b6 + Kg6 - Kf7

And so on until we drive the Black King to the back rank where the final leap frogging Rook will deliver a check and mate - CHECKMATE!

1. Ra3 - a5 + Kh5 - g6
2. Rb4 - b6 + Kg6 - Kf7
3. Ra5 - a7 + _____?


1. Ra3 - a5 + Kh5 - g6
2. Rb4 - b6 + Kg6 - Kf7
3. Ra5 - a7 + Kf7 - Ke8


1. Ra3 - a5 + Kh5 - g6
2. Rb4 - b6 + Kg6 - Kf7
3. Ra5 - a7 + Kf7 - Ke8
4. Rb6 - b8 #

1 - 0 (WHITE WINS - CHECKMATE!)

GAME OVER - BACK RANK CHECKMATE!

The Rook on a7 prevents the Black King from running up onto the 7th Rank.

The Rook that just landed on the square b8 is giving the Black King a check and attacks all along the 8th rank thus giving a check and mate.


The Black King is in check and all of the squares around him are controlled - so he is also mated - which makes this a CHECKMATE! Game over - white won. Time for a new game!

Try to practice this technique with your young scholastic star a few times this week while at home so they can pick up this checkmate - while having fun practicing with you!

YOUR KYRENE DE LAS BRISAS CHESS COACH
Chess Coach Sean Tobin.