Defend against checkmate: counter checking

Counterattacks can be a fun and effective way of defending. But what good is a counterattack if you lose on the next turn?

Your opponent won’t mind losing a queen or a rook. Because he wins the game! Checkmate is more important than who has the most points.

Yet, sometimes a counterattact can be useful to prevent mate. You launch a counterattack on the king: check! This is called counter checking.

Your opponent has no time to checkmate your king. First, he needs to save his own king! Afterwards, things can be very different on the board. You might be able to escape checkmate now.

Have a look at the examples. The situation seems hopeless to White. He has no means of defending against mate. But he can, after a counter check.

Example 1: after counter checking White can protect the mating square.
Exampe 2 is slightly different. Wit launches a cunning couter check. In the next move he can capture the attacker.
In example 3, White is able to defend by interposing after his counter check.
Finally, example 4. This is a pretty difficult example. But it is a real fun one! See for yourself. Cool, huh?

It is not easy to come up with such tricks in a real game. That is why we are going to practise counter checking. How cool would it be if you could manage to escape mate in this way!

What do you have to do?
Defend against mate by counter checking. Then, continue defending by means of capturing, protecting, blocking or moving away.