- When two pieces queue up on a file or diagonal, they more than double their power.
- When two Rooks join forces on a file or rank, we call them doubled. (Nilsson-Boehm, Marshall-Capablanca)
- You can even triple major pieces on a file. (Alekhin-Nimzowitsch, Karpov-Kasparov)
- A Queen and a Bishop can combine to form a powerful battery on a diagonal. (Yusupov-Lobron)
Click [...] to see list of games
[Event "corr"]
[Site "corr"]
[Date "1979.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Nilsson"]
[Black "Boehm"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C52"]
[Annotator "attack: back rank"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "1979.01.03"]
[EventType "corr"]
[EventRounds "10"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 d6 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. O-O {[#]} Bb6 10. Rd1 Qe7 11. a4 a6 12. Ba3 Qf6 13. a5 Ba7 14. Bd5 Nge7
{[#]} 15. Ra2 O-O 16. Bxc6 bxc6 17. Rad2 Rb8 {[#] doubled Rooks} 18. Rd8 Bg4 $2 {(shock? or,
in this correspondence game, more likely a desire to get it over with in an
attractive way?)} (18... Ng6 19. Bxf8 Nxf8 20. Qc2 $18 (20. Qxb8 Bxb8 21. Rxc8
Ba7 22. Ra8 Bc5 23. Nbd2 {is promising but unnecessary})) 19. Qxb8 1-0
[Event "New York"]
[Site "New"]
[Date "1918.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Marshall"]
[Black "Capablanca"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D64"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "1918.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Rc1 c6 8. Qc2
dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Qxc3 b6 13. e4 Bb7 14. Rfe1
Rfd8 15. d5 Nc5 16. dxe6 Nxe6 17. Bxe6 Qxe6 18. Nd4 Qe5 19. Nxc6 Qxc3 20. Rxc3
Rd2 21. Rb1 Re8 22. e5 (22. f3 f5 23. exf5 Ree2 {[#] with doubled rooks on the
seventh "enough to frighten a man to death" (Chernev)}) 22... g5! 23. h4 gxh4
24. Re1 Re6 25. Rec1 Kg7 26. b4 b5 27. a3 Rg6 28. Kf1 Ra2 29. Kg1 h3 30. g3 a6
31. e6 Rxe6 32. g4 Rh6 33. f3 Rd6 34. Ne7 Rdd2 35. Nf5+ Kf6 36. Nh4 Kg5 37. Nf5
Rg2+ 38. Kf1 Rh2 39. f4+ Kxf4 0-1
[Event "San Remo"]
[Site "San Remo"]
[Date "1930.01.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Alekhin, Alexander"]
[Black "Nimzowitsch, Aron"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C17"]
[Annotator "attack: pins"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "1930.01.15"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 Ne7 6. Nb5 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 O-O 8. c3
b6 9. f4 Ba6 10. Nf3 Qd7 11. a4 Nbc6 12. b4 {[#]} cxb4 (12... c4 13. Na3 Nd8
14. Nc2 {when White is free to belt down the King's side}) 13. cxb4 Bb7 14. Nd6
f5 15. a5 Nc8 16. Nxb7 Qxb7 17. a6 Qf7 (17... Qe7 18. Bb5 Nd8 (18... Nxb4 19.
Rb1)) 18. Bb5 N8e7 19. O-O h6 20. Rfc1 Rfc8 21. Rc2 {[#]} Qe8 {[#] hoping to
make a stand on c6, but enters the worst pin in the world} (21... Nd8 22. Rac1
Rxc2 23. Rxc2 Rc8 24. Bd7 Rxc2 25. Qxc2 {concedes the c-file, when the Q can't
be kept put for long}) 22. Rac1 Rab8 23. Qe3 Rc7 {else White wins by Qe3-a3-a4}
24. Rc3 Qd7 25. R1c2 Kf8 26. Qc1 Rbc8 {[#] pin number two, down the c-file -
worth another diagram. How can White increase the pressure?} 27. Ba4 b5 28.
Bxb5 Ke8 29. Ba4 Kd8 30. h4 {[#] zugzwang} Qe8 31. b5 {1-0 (31) Alekhin,
A-Nimzowitsch,A pins - 2 - double pin 1930} 1-0
[Event "Moscow"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1985.??.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Karpov, A."]
[Black "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D55"]
[Annotator "style: Karpov keeping control "]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "1985.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5.
Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Qc2 Na6 9. Rd1 c5 10. dxc5 Qa5 11. cxd5 Nxc5
12. Qd2 Rd8 13. Nd4 exd5 14. Be2 Qb6 15. O-O Ne4 16. Qc2 Nxc3 17. Qxc3 Be6 {White has an extra Pawn} 18.
Qc2 Rac8 19. Qb1 Rc7 20. Rd2 Rdc8 21. Nxe6 fxe6 22. Bg4 Rc4 23. h3 Qc6 24. Qd3
Kh8 25. Rfd1 a5 {Two sets of tripled major pieces} 26. b3 Rc3 27. Qe2 Rf8 28. Bh5 b5 29. Bg6 Bd8 30. Bd3 b4 31.
Qg4 Qe8 32. e4 {[#] Black's exposed pawns are given a push. The trouble with
having three pawn islands is the same problem plate spinners have: one is easy,
two is harder...} Bg5 33. Rc2 Rxc2 34. Bxc2 Qc6 35. Qe2 Qc5 36. Rf1 Qc3 37.
exd5 exd5 38. Bb1 Qd2 39. Qe5 Rd8 40. Qf5 Kg8 41. Qe6+ Kh8 42. Qg6 Kg8 43. Qe6+
Kh8 44. Bf5 Qc3 45. Qg6 Kg8 46. Be6+ Kh8 47. Bf5 Kg8 48. g3 Kf8 49. Kg2 Qf6 50.
Qh7 Qf7 51. h4 Bd2 52. Rd1 Bc3 53. Rd3 Rd6 54. Rf3 Ke7 55. Qh8 d4 56. Qc8 Rf6
57. Qc5+ Ke8 58. Rf4 Qb7+ 59. Re4+ Kf7 60. Qc4+ Kf8 61. Bh7 Rf7 62. Qe6 Qd7 63.
Qe5 {[#] Black has to let a plate drop.} 1-0
[Event "Nussloch"]
[Site "Nussloch GER"]
[Date "1996.05.30"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "9"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Artur Yusupov"]
[Black "Eric Lobron"]
[ECO "E53"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "55"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.O-O
cxd4 8.exd4 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b6 10.Re1 Bb7 11.Bd3 Nc6 12.a3 Be7
13.Bc2 Re8 14.Qd3 g6 {White's QB battery provokes a weakening of the Black King's position} 15.h4 Qd6 16.Bg5 Rad8 17.Rad1 Qb8 18.Bb3
a6 19.d5 Na5 20.dxe6 Nxb3 21.exf7+ Kxf7 22.Qc4+ Kg7 23.Ne5 Ng8
24.Rxd8 Qxd8 25.Qf7+ Kh8 26.Qxb3 Qd4 27.Re3 Rf8 28.Bxe7 1-0