Meet FOOLISH FREDDIE. Foolish Freddie's job is to protect his King. But sometimes he forgets his job and moves away. And if he does that, his King is open to attack on the FATAL DIAGONAL. |
Here you see FOOLISH FREDDIE on the chessboard. FOOLISH FREDDIE is your F-PAWN. You have to be very careful about moving your f-pawn in the opening. |
Black could have taken the pawn, or done a couple of other things (which we'll show you later). But instead he's (foolishly) decided to move his own FOOLISH FREDDIE. Shall we see what happens next? |
First of all, White exchanges pawns on e5, reaching this position. It's White's move. What would you play?
Nb1-c3
Qd1-h5+
Bf1-c4 Ng1-f3 |
Well done if you found that move. Here's the position now. Black's in DEEP DEEP TROUBLE, all because he moved FOOLISH FREDDIE. He's only got two moves - g7-g6 and Ke8-e7. We'll look at each in turn. |
Enter your move using the keypad below.
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White CAPTURES a pawn, CHECKS the Black King and THREATENS the Rook on h8, all at the same time! Next move he'll take the Rook. What do we call this sort of move?
A PIN
A KNIFE
A FORK A SPOON |
Going back a move, this time Black's played Ke8-e7 instead of g7-g6. How do you continue?
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What's your next move?
Nb1-c3
d2-d4
Bf1-c4+ Ng1-f3 |
If White plays the King's Gambit Black has a couple of ways of setting a trap. Here's one of them. Black moves his Bishop from f8 to c5. |
White carelessly grabs the pawn on e5. And Black plays... well you tell me.
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If White plays g2-g3, Black plays Qh4xe4+ (FORK!), Qe4xh1 and takes most of White's other pieces. And if White plays Ke1-e2... |
...Qh4xe4 is
a bad move
winning a pawn
CHECK CHECKMATE |
White has a choice of two pawn captures. One's fine: the other one loses. Which one should White prefer? |
If White makes the wrong choice you reach this position, when Black can play...
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Right, let's see how good you are at remembering NOT to move FOOLISH FREDDIE. What should Black play here? |
And which move should White prefer here? |
But in fact Black's got a really strong move here. What is it?
Ne4-f2
Ne4xg3
Qh4xg3+ Qh4xh2 |
If White now plays h2xg3 (and he has nothing better) Black can play Qh4xh1, winning a Rook for a Knight. We say that White's h-pawn is...
PINNED
FORKED
SKEWERED |
Just to check that you're still awake, which move would you prefer in this position?
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What should Black play now? |
What should Black play?
Qh4-f6
Qh4-e7
Qh4xh2 Qh4xg3+ |
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