THE FIRING SQUAD

Let's suppose that you have two Rooks and your opponent has only his King. We don't need the White King for this so we'll take it off the board. Start with the position on your right.

Imagine that the Black King has been sentenced to death. The two White Rooks, Ronnie and Reggie, are the FIRING SQUAD. They each have a rifle and aim to shoot the King dead.

First, Ronnie moves to a5 (CHECK!) and shoots the Black King. But the King leaps out of the way: to e4. Now Reggie moves to h4 and fires his rifle. The King cannot move up into Ronnie's line of fire (the 5th rank) so instead goes to e3. Now it's Ronnie's turn to shoot again, so he moves to a3 (Diagram).

What should the poor King do? Again, if he moves up to the 4th rank he'll meet Reggie's bullet. There's nothing for it. He must move down to the 2nd rank. In desperation he moves to e2. Watch how the two guards take it in turns to shoot. This time it's Reggie's turn so he moves to h2 and opens fire again. His Majesty, feeling shell-shocked, moves to e1 - you know why he can't escape back up the board.

Now Ronnie takes the final shot: BANG! and the King is dead. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. He's stuck on the side of the board and dies in a hail of bullets (Diagram).

Let's try again. This time the Black King will try a bit harder.

1. Ra1-a5+ Ke5-f4

The Black King bravely heads towards Reggie.

2. Rh1-h4+ Kf4-g3 (Diagram)

Stop here and decide what you are going to do next.

Certainly NOT Ra5-a3+ and poor old Reggie will be captured by the Black King.

Black has two plans. The quickest is for Reggie to rush over to the other side of the board, as far away as possible from the Black King. He DOESN'T go to a4 where he would be in Ronnie's way. Instead, he goes to b4, when the rest is easy.

3. Rh4-b4 Kg3-f3

The Black King tries to get across to harass the Rooks but can't quite make it in time.

4. Ra5-a3+ Kf3-e2

5. Rb4-b2+ Ke2-d1

6. Ra3-a1#

The other plan is for Ronnie to move down to defend Reggie. Just as good but it takes a bit longer. Go back to the previous diagram and see if you can find another plan for White.

3. Ra5-a4 Kg3-f3

The Black King is forced to move away.

4. Rh4-h3+ Kf3-g2

Again, NOT Ra4-a2+ when Black captures on h3. So White repeats the same process again until he can deliver checkmate.

5. Ra4-a3 Kg2-f2

6. Rh3-h2+ Kf2-g1

7. Ra3-a2 Kg1-f1

8. Rh2-h1#

Or, of course, Ra2-a1#.

This sort of checkmate happens most often at the end of the game. So if your opponent has not much else left apart from his King and your force includes two Rooks, Queen and Rook, or two Queens, remember the plan.

1. Decide the side of the board on which you want to mate your opponent.

2. Put a Rook or Queen one row away from the enemy King.

3. Check him with your OTHER Rook or Queen, making sure that the move's safe before you play it (REMEMBER CCT!)

4. Force him to the side of the board, one row at a time, using your two pieces in turn.

5. When the King reaches the side of the board, checkmate him.

But you can also use the same idea in the middle game. Here's an example.

In this position (Diagram) White's a Queen down but it's his move. What should he play?

The Black King is stuck on the h-file and the White Rook is standing guard on g2. So all we have to do is to move the other Rook from d1 to h1. Black can only delay mate for one move by putting his Queen on h3.

The next position, on your right, is very similar. Again, it's White's move. What would you do? Rd1-h1 is a strong move, THREATENING MATE on h6. Black can defend for the moment with Qd7-e6, but White will win quickly by ATTACKING h6 again: Rg2-h2. But the quickest way to win is by a QUEEN SACRIFICE: Qd2xh6+. Black's only move is Kh7xh6 when we've reached the position in the previous diagram. White plays Rd1-h1+ and mates next move.

Now we'll change the position slightly by adding a Black Pawn on g6 (Diagram). Would you SACRIFICE your Queen in this position? NO! After the Rook check on h1 the Black King can escape to g7. There's no mate: all that's happened is that you've lost your Queen - not a good idea!

For our next diagram we'll add a White Pawn on f6. Now would you play Qd2xh6+? This time it works: after Kh7xh6, Rd1-h1 again forces mate because Freddie controls g7. Another question: suppose that after Qd2xh6+ Black plays Kh7-g8. What would you do then? Yes, Qh6-g7 is mate - THE KISS OF DEATH, with Freddie holding the Queen's hand.

Finally, we'll give White a Knight on c3 and Black a Bishop on e6. Does this make any difference? 1. Qd2xh6+ Kh7xh6 2. Rd1-h1+ and Black can defend with Be6-h3. The Bishop is now PINNED so White can attack it again with Rg2-g3 and win Bishop and Queen for Rook but as he's already given up his Queen he'll end up behind on material. Can you find the winning plan for White in the diagram? A difficult question. The answer is 1. Rd1-h1 (THREATENING h6) and if 1... h6-h5 (Be6-h3 lasts longer) what then? A ROOK SACRIFICE: 2. Rh1xh5+! g6xh5 3. Rg2-g7+ Kh7-h8 4. Qd2-h6#

1. You should be able to recognise the TWO ROOK CHECKMATE and know how to do it by forcing the King to the side of the board one RANK or FILE at a time.

2. Look for chances to trap the King on the side of the board in the middle game.

3. Use CCT to look for checks: even if they look foolish they might, just might, lead to mate so learn how to follow through sequences of checks.

4. Don't SACRIFICE unless you're absolutely certain that it's going to work.