Connected rooks on the 7th or 2nd rank are called pigs. This is because they gobble up everything in their path. With this hint in mind, please try to find whites best move.

Whites f2 pawn and square is a pressure point. Blacks pieces target that square and pawn, while whites rook, queen and king defend that square. Black indirectly exploits that pressure by having its queen capture whites g3 pawn with check.

If the whites f2 pawn takes the queen, blacks rook checks from g2 (see next diagram).

This forces the white king to h1. Blacks rook then checks again from h2. The white king steps back to g1, as blacks other rook on c2 mates from g2.

Hence, after the black queen checks from g3, whites king flees to h1. Now blacks queen does a little maneuvering. First, the queen snatches whites h3 pawn with check. The king moves back to g1. The queen checks again from g3, forcing the king to h1 (see next diagram).

The queen next checks from f3. If the king goes back to g1, one of blacks rooks moves to the 4th rank so as to slide over to the g and h files and mate white with blacks queen and rook. If the king retreats to h2, black has simple option of bursting through on the f2 square and winning an overwhelming amount of material. Better, but not as simple it is for black to move its c2 rook to c3. The rook and queen form a mating battery on the 3rd rank, which does allow white to do a spite check with its queen.

The lesson this week is that connected rooks on the 7th or 2nd rank have a bite that is worse than their oink.

Reach Eric Morrow atericmorrowlaw@gmail.comor(505) 327-7121.

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Chess Corner: A bite worse than their oink - Enid News & Eagle