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You have seen X-ray defenses before. Do you remember? You protect a piece by looking right through another piece! A really clever trick!
In stead of protecting pieces, we are now using the X-ray defense to guard squares. Mating squares, to be precise. Study the example and you will know how to do this.
What do you have to do?
Use an X-ray defense to prevent checkmate.
Defend against checkmate: protecting (2)
You already know a lot of good tricks to prevent mate. In this lesson, we’ll teach you another one. This time, you are going to wriggle out of mate by using an X-ray defense.You have seen X-ray defenses before. Do you remember? You protect a piece by looking right through another piece! A really clever trick!
In stead of protecting pieces, we are now using the X-ray defense to guard squares. Mating squares, to be precise. Study the example and you will know how to do this.
What do you have to do?
Use an X-ray defense to prevent checkmate.
Black’s queen wants to checkmate on the green square. But White isn’t falling for it.
White is going to defend the mating square.
His queen follows the green arrow. Now, she looks right throught the black queen to the green square.
Black can move his queen there, but that would be foolish – she would be captured by White’s queen.
Should the black queen take the white queen?
No, that is not a good idea! White’s rook defends the queen.
But what if White’s queen had followed the red arrow?
That would have created an X-ray defense as well.
But not a good one. White would lose his queen.
White is going to defend the mating square.
His queen follows the green arrow. Now, she looks right throught the black queen to the green square.
Black can move his queen there, but that would be foolish – she would be captured by White’s queen.
Should the black queen take the white queen?
No, that is not a good idea! White’s rook defends the queen.
But what if White’s queen had followed the red arrow?
That would have created an X-ray defense as well.
But not a good one. White would lose his queen.
