Chess lessons › Chess endgames
Queen and pawn against queen
The defender checks and checks; the stronger king hides by its pawn and answers with a cross-check.
The idea
Hide the king from checks by its pawn; answer with a cross-check.
- Black’s queen checks White’s king from b6.
- Qc6+ blocks the check and checks Black’s king on e8.
- If the queens come off, the pawn on b7 queens.
In a game: With queen and pawn against queen, look for a check that also blocks a check: the cross-check.
How the lesson begins
With a queen each and one extra pawn, the defender has one great weapon: the check. A queen can check from far away and from many sides, and checks that never end, perpetual check, are a draw.
This is Erich Cohn against Ehrhardt Post, Berlin 1907. Both sides have just made a queen, White with check. Black has a pawn on b5. With best play the tablebase says it is a draw.
Find the move
A few moves later Black’s king has come to b3, just in front of its pawn. White to move. Only one move keeps the draw. Find it.
A hint
The defender must keep checking. Which check is still there?
Show the answer
59. Qf7+
Qf7+, a check along the diagonal to b3. Every other move loses: once the checks stop, Black’s king can hide and the pawn can run.