In her recent interview, Hou Yifan mentioned that she once dreamt of becoming a detective and coincidentally, (not so coincidentally) she found out that there are some similarities between the two things, because both need thinking mechanisms.

In this series, I will share 5 Sherlocking tools to aid you in calculation. Be the detective on the chess board and decipher the correct move! I learnt this from International Master and renowned coach Rajaravisekar in 2006. I always experience sheer joy after executing combinations with the help of the tools. Attempt the positions before reading further

Position 1:

White has just played Nc6, intending to capture on e7. What would you play as black in this position?

Position 2:

White to play

Position 3:

After seeking inspiration from Seirwan’s Take my rooks, white sacrificed two rooks to launch a mating attack. How did he succeed?

Position 4:

Black had thirty seconds to spot the winning move. How did Black win the game?

Analyse all the checks!

In a critical position, always look for checks. If you see a check, you don’t have to play it. But, it is important to consider it.

Analyse all the sacrifices 

After analyzing the checks, think of the possible sacrifices in the position.

Practical Example :

In this position, there are three checks possible. 1) Bh7+, 1)Rh8+ and 1)Qe8+. The first two can be rejected after some calculation; they do not profit white by any means. Note that Bh7+ and Rh8+ are also sacrifices. 1)Qe8+ is a powerful check, forcing the black rook to interpose with Rf8.

Applying the Sherlock tools, white has Bh7+, +, Qxf8+ and Rh8+ at his disposal. Can you go ahead with a few moves in each variation?

2.Bh7+ is met by Rxh7 and there is no firepower left. 2. Qxf8 gives nothing to white 2.Rh8+ keeps the game going and this should serve as a clue to spot the checkmate!

Black is forced to capture with the king – 2…Kxh8

3.Qxf8+ Rg8

and then
Qh6#

If you haven’t got the answers to the above mentioned positions, you might want to try them out again. You have two tools to guide you!

Steps to Sherlock

I will be back with the next article with more tools Happy Sherlocking!