00:00SQR can be also called an X-ray attack. It's an attack by a lion piece, queen,
00:19rogue, or bishop, and normally the piece under direct attack is a more valuable
00:26one, that one is behind, and when this valuable piece has to move, then the less
00:32valuable is being lost. We saw one of the types of the SQR in the lesson about
00:41double attacks, just we can look again at the situation where black king and queen
00:47are on the same row and the rook attacks black king, it's a check, and when king
00:54moves, then the rook grabs the queen. So that's one of the one of the forms of
01:00SQR. So we can also look for another form of SQR, it's with a bishop, and we can
01:11start actually with one that if we try to explain it in Russian terms that will be
01:21called differently. Lineyny udar, kind of a lion attack, doesn't make much sense in
01:28English, but it's even if we have two pieces of the same value on the same
01:33diagonal, so that's where you put two kings just, yes, to make it positional legal,
01:39both knights are on the attack, one is directly, another one is indirectly, and it's
01:46also kind of a skewer, that if white king would be on d3, then it could go on e4,
01:55protecting this knight, and then it would be more like a pin, but we'll talk about it
01:59later.
02:01Let's now look at the classical skewer, where bishop is attacking two pieces and causing
02:14damage, irreparable damage to the opponent. Here is the position, and obviously, you know,
02:26we can use the bishop to put it from d2 to c3, attacking the queen, and then also the rook.
02:34This is classical skewer. We have a much more valuable piece on the direct attack, it has
02:42to move, and then the less valuable piece, in this case it's rook, it's less valuable, but
02:47it's enough for us to win the game. But there's something else I wanted to mention, that when
02:53you see a good move, and of course in our case, skewer, bishop from d2 to c3 is winning, just
03:02spend another second, maybe two seconds, and look whether there is something else, maybe
03:09even stronger, even more powerful. Just imagine for a moment the bishop is not on d2 but on e1.
03:16It still, you know, makes move bishop c3, perfectly legal, and it's winning the rook. But there's
03:25also another option, because we look at queen and king at the same diagonal. You can put this
03:33bishop on g3, this time pinning the queen and winning the queen. So just, you know, always
03:41look at position, you know, trying to maximize the effect of your attack. Okay, with bishop
03:49on d2 is only bishop c3, with bishop on e1 you have even more powerful, more powerful move.
03:53There's also a few practical things that we can learn about, about a skewer, and one is in the endgame.
04:07So very often we have this pattern in the rook's endgame. And rook's endgame are probably most popular
04:19endgame. Happen very often, even in the games of the beginners. So, and we have this position with
04:26white king on f2, rook on a7, pawn on b6, and black rook was on a1, pawn on a2. Pawn is close to the
04:33promotion square, but it's blocked. And typically when the rook is behind, so opponent's rook is behind,
04:40it's very hard to, to make progress. Now, as I already said, always, you know, look at it,
04:47even the minor details in the position. So does it matter whether white king goes on f2 or white king
04:54goes on e2? The answer, yes, it does matter. It does matter a lot. It's, it makes all the difference
05:00between winning, losing, in this case actually drawing or losing for white. Because if white king goes on
05:06e2, and it goes on f2, black has this classical trick of using the skewer. Rook goes on h1,
05:13threatening to promote the pawn. White has to take the pawn. And then it's our skewer,
05:19rook from h2, check, and, and winning, winning the, um, uh, uh, white's rook. So if white king goes on f2,
05:29then we manage to take this very important square, king g2, actually leaving no, no room for white
05:36for, for, for black, for black rook to use the skewer and to sort of escape from a1. And then the
05:44game withdraw because white king is simply standing here and, uh, and, uh, black has no way to, of, of,
05:51improving the position. And of course, you know, uh, white king, you know, must stay on the second rank
05:56because the moment it moves to, to the third rank or, or higher, then, you know, black can escape from a1
06:03with a check, check, and then promoting, uh, uh, queen.
06:14Let's have a look at, at the practical game. I have to say that I played very slow opening, not, uh,
06:21not very impressive. Um, and, um, Belovsky had good position, but, uh, he, uh,
06:28he overplayed his hand and, uh, um, I could activate my pieces and, uh, it was already, you know,
06:37quite a challenging, um, position for black. And then he made a mistake by taking this pawn.
06:44And, uh, here I managed to use combination of patterns to, um, uh, win the game.
06:54First is the double attack. Actually, it's triple attack because it attacks the queen, rook, and bishop.
07:03Black queen goes on f6. And then if white takes the rook, then, uh, maybe it's not that bad
07:09because black can go back, uh, with bishop and then take the pawn on b2.
07:16Take the pawn on b2. So it's the, it's, the game is somehow complicated. So it's still good for white,
07:21but it's not, it's not winning. So that's why you take on e5.
07:27Sometimes you have to look for, um, um,
07:32for taking the weaker piece because you can gain more. It's again, looking for maximum outcome.
07:38It's not just one move. It's not just, you know, we, you win the exchange by taking rook on b8,
07:42but you take a bishop on e5, and after queen takes e5, bishop f4.
07:47And now it's everything. It's even, you know, this cover attack, but most important, it's a skewer.
07:54It's a skewer. The queen should move, and then bishop takes the rook on b8,
07:58and black has nothing to do, so black, black resigns.
08:01As we did with a double attack, I think it would be very important now to look at, at some pure tactics.
08:15And where can we find pure tactics? In the studies.
08:18And, um, while there are many great studies, I thought that having rook and bishop versus queen,
08:25um, that makes its most perfect combination because it's helps us to understand the geometry.
08:32And also, we know we will be finding ways of, of, um, uh, winning against, um, a stronger, stronger piece.
08:42Now let's investigate. New position, it's worth always taking time.
08:47Um, in theory, if we ignore the concrete aspects of the position, black has an advantage.
08:56It's queen versus rook and bishop.
08:58But as we could see, you know, black queen is slightly awkwardly placed there, and maybe we can start using tactics.
09:06In this case, many variations of skewer to win the material.
09:11So, the first move, and I think you can guess it now, we attack.
09:16Rook attacks, queen.
09:19Now, suddenly, the powerful queen, imagine powerful queen.
09:23The move that can, can, the piece that can move everywhere, you know, right, left, the center.
09:29Suddenly, it's under attack, and there are not so many options.
09:32If queen takes the rook, then, first skewer.
09:37Bishop a free check.
09:39Queen is lost.
09:40Now, if queen goes to e6, then another skewer.
09:45Rook a6 check.
09:47Queen is lost.
09:49Queen goes on d5.
09:50Another skewer.
09:51Bishop f3.
09:53Actually, it's a pin.
09:54That is just, you know, we may call it, you know, a variation of skewer.
09:57Queen goes on c4.
09:59Skewer from, uh, from the other side.
10:02Uh, and if queen goes on h7, then suddenly it's trapped.
10:08It's bishop g6.
10:10Queen takes, and then we have this skewer.
10:12Rook a6 check.
10:13So, black has no more options but to take on a2.
10:18But the rook is still pursuing this queen.
10:24Rook takes a4.
10:26Now, if black takes this rook, nasty rook, then bishop e8.
10:32Another skewer.
10:34So, black has no other way but to go back on g8.
10:37But the rook attacks again.
10:38And no more a2 square is available.
10:40The only square left is queen h7.
10:43And then we finish the game with, um, another blow.
10:48Bishop g6.
10:49Um, so it just shows you geometry.
10:51Which is a very important element.
10:53It's a, it's sometimes, somehow it's difficult for, for humans to appreciate the way geometry works.
10:59But as I already said, um, good moves, they always have pretty simple explanation.
11:06So, and geometry is one of the key elements of fighting these good moves.
11:10Because all chess pieces, they, they, they, they moved by, by certain rules.
11:16And if you know how to manage this geometry, you can always, you know, get the best out of your pieces.
11:22Even if you have weaker pieces.
11:30I just wanted to end up with more complicated study.
11:35It's, again, rook and bishop versus queen.
11:38But this time was more complicated.
11:39Because it includes quiet moves.
11:43And this is something that I want to emphasize.
11:45People tend, that's, that's our nature, to look for immediate threats.
11:50Either we attack, or we give a check.
11:52Attack, a check.
11:53This study was fairly simple.
11:55I said fairly simple.
11:57It's a straightforward.
11:58Because we attack.
11:59We attack the queen.
12:00We attack the queen.
12:01We attack the queen.
12:02We trap the queen.
12:03But in the study that I will put now, it's not, it's not as simple.
12:14Because it's not all about immediate attacks.
12:18It's the same material, by the way.
12:20Look, same material.
12:21We just reshuffle the pieces.
12:23Again, black has extra queen.
12:26If nothing happens, probably it's a draw, because white has solid position.
12:30But still, we have some chances.
12:32Black pieces are not well coordinated.
12:35Though queen is not trapped, as in the previous case.
12:40To solve this position, you have to use the knowledge that we accumulated during the first two lessons.
12:48It includes skewer, double attack, and big hint.
12:55The point of the study is a quiet move.
12:59Not a check, not an attack, but a quiet move, which creates a threat that forces black to fall into your skewer trap.
13:09So, think about it.
13:11The first move is a forced one.
13:13But the second one will be the real point.
13:16So, I can give you a little bit of time to think about it.
13:20And I hope that you find the right move and enjoy it immensely.
13:26Let's pause.
13:28So, now we're back.
13:41And we can look at the solution.
13:44Obviously, it starts with a check.
13:46So, what is this?
13:47We start with this check.
13:49Because that moves, that forces black king to move to the white square.
13:53That's quite important.
13:54Because if we want to use a skewer, our bishop should be able to attack.
13:58So, where black king can go?
14:00On c6, then we attack from a4.
14:03It's a skewer.
14:04That's over.
14:06e6, same.
14:07Now we attack from other side.
14:09Bishop g4.
14:10Over.
14:11Okay, c4 is very bad because it's simply mate.
14:14Yes.
14:15So, another move is b5, actually.
14:18And here we can have a trick.
14:21So, we can take on b5.
14:22Queen takes b5.
14:25Queen takes b5.
14:26And now, we do what we actually did once with the knight.
14:29But now, bishop plays the same role.
14:31c4.
14:32Pawn is being sacrificed, but it's not for nothing.
14:35It brings black king and queen at the same diagonal to give bishop a chance to deliver
14:43the final blow.
14:44If king takes c4, then bishop e2 check.
14:47Skewer.
14:49If queen takes e4, then it's a pin.
14:52It's called skewer if you wish.
14:54So, in Russia we say line attack.
14:57Bishop b3, pin, and the end game is easily won for white.
15:02But black could sort it out and make the best move.
15:11King e4.
15:12Now, how we can prevent this black king from escaping?
15:16Because the moment black king reaches the black square, the combination of rook and bishop
15:21will no longer work as a mechanism.
15:24And here is the point.
15:26The quiet move that I wanted you to find.
15:29If you find it, brilliant.
15:31Because it's a really tough challenge.
15:33If not, enjoy it.
15:34Because you will find it quite amazing.
15:36Rook goes on f5.
15:38Rare moves when you put your piece, just an unprotected square, attacked by two opponent pieces.
15:47But the problem is that black cannot take this poisoned rook, called poisoned rook,
15:53normally called poisoned pawn, but in this case it's poisoned rook, without losing material.
16:00And why black should take the rook?
16:02Because the threat is created, bishop c2 mate.
16:06So if black takes with the king, then bishop g4, this one skewer.
16:13And if black takes with this rook with the queen, then bishop c2, it's another skewer.
16:20So we had a chance of learning how to apply different techniques, different patterns,
16:26to reach the result, the desired result in its winning, or in some cases it could be making a draw.
16:40And it's also very important to remember that as much as it worked with double attack,
16:47between skewer you can always, you know, find a way to escape by either counterattacking opponent's pieces,
16:55or also finding an opportunity to attack opponent's king, to give a check.
17:00But between skewer and double attack, you have some of the most basic, but again, very deadly means of creating damage to your opponent,
17:14and reaching the desired result.
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