The queen must be watched very closely in atomic chess. The queen can win the game single-handedly often by forking two key squares, i.e. threatening to infiltrate the enemy position along two different lines. The opening is full of such queen threats, and the beginner will often lose in just a few moves if precautions aren't taken to stop the queen.
Consider the opening moves 1. e3 Nh6??. Black has ignored a threat by White's queen and now he loses to a common queen tactic: 2. Qh5 g6 3. Qd5 [1-0].
The Deadly Seven.
From d5, the White queen is forking d7 and f7. Black cannot avoid getting his king caught in an explosion, so White wins.
Next, consider 1. e3 d5?. This time Black has stopped the White queen from landing on d5, but White can still win material with another common queen tactic: 2. Qh5 g6 3. Qe5.
Black to Move.
White is now forking e7 and c7 with his queen. Black's best continuation is: 3. Be6 Qxc7 [+-].
The Goose.
White is now up a pawn and knight and has an easy game.
Next, consider 1. e3 e5?. Here, Black has prevented both the deadly seven and the goose, but Black is vulnerable to yet another queen tactic: 2. Qf3!
Black to Move.
Now White is forking the d5 and f7 squares. Black has to prevent the White queen from capturing on f7 and from moving to d5, from where the White queen will be forking d7 and f7. For example, if Black plays 2. ... f5??, then White wins with 3. Qd5 [1-0].
The Wedge.
Suppose instead of 2. ... f5??, Black plays 2. ... Nf6??, which stops both Qxf7 and Qd5. Then White simply plays 3. Qf5 [1-0].
The Boomerang.
White is threatening to move his queen to d7 and Black cannot stop him.
Suppose instead of 2. ... f5?? and 2. ... Nh6??, Black plays 2. ... Qf6, the only move that doesn't lose immediately. Note that this stops both Qxf7 and Qd5, since if 3. Qd5, then 3. ... Qxf2 [0-1]. Then White continues with 3. Nh3, which threatens Ng5. White will win some material, but we won't analyze this opening here.
Next, consider 1. e4 e5??. Black's typical "chess response" to 1. e4 actually loses the game to a nice queen tactic: 2. Qh5 g6 3. Qh3!
Black to Move.
Because Black left the h3-c8 diagonal weak, White took advantage of it. Black can only delay White's queen from arriving at d7 for one move: 3. ... f5 4. exf5 [1-0].
The Ribbon.
This ribbon tactic (like the other tactics) can occur in many different openings. Watch out for it whenever the pawns are on e4 and e5. For example, consider 1. Nf3 f6 2. Nd4 Nh6 3. Nf5 Nxf5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e4.
Black to Move.
If Black now plays 5. ... e5?? here, then White has this ribbon tactic: 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qh3 f5 8. exf5 [1-0]. The problem is that the c8-h3 diagonal is weak. In any opening, if White has played e4, look carefully before you play e5. One way to strengthen the c8-h3 diagonal before playing e5 is to move the d-pawn off of d7 so that the bishop on c8 can protect the diagonal.
In some openings, Black can be the one to win with the ribbon tactic. Consider 1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 e5!
White to Move.
White's 2. Nc3 is a tricky move itself that can give Black problems. But here, Black puts White to a test. First of all, playing 2. ... e5 does not expose Black to the ribbon tactic, because he has already moved his d-pawn. It is White that is facing the ribbon! For example, if White gets greedy and plays 3. Nb5??, then Black wins: 3. ... Qh4 4. g3 Qh6 5. f5 exf5 [0-1].
After 1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 e5!, White has to defend against Black's queen well. For example, 3. h4? Qf6!
White to Move.
Here, if White tries 4. f3??, then Black has a boomerang: 4. ... Qf4 [0-1]. But White has problems whatever his 4th move is. For example, if 4. Nf3 or 4. Qf3, then Black has 4. ... dxe4, and if 4. f4, then Black has 4. ... Bg4.
Perhaps after 1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 e5!, White should defend with 3. d3, strengthening the c1-h6 diagonal.
Let's move on to another queen tactic. Consider: 1. Nf3 f6 2. Nd4 Nh6 3. Nf5 Nxf5 4. e3 e6 5. Nc3 Bb4??.
White to Move and Win.
Here, Black has left his kingside weak and White has a common winning queen tactic: 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qh6 [1-0].
The Needle.
This needle tactic (where the queen infiltrates via h6) is very common and beginners lose to it all the time. To stop the needle, usually you move a pawn to block the enemy queen's path. But sometimes, you have a queen tactic at your disposal to stop the needle. Consider: 1. Nh3 f6 2. Nc3 c6 3. e3 d5 4. Ng5 Bg4 5. f3 fxg5 6. Nb5 cxb5 7. Bb5+ Nc6 8. d4 e6.
White to Move.
Black is now threatening a needle of his own: Qd8-h4-h3. White can play a defensive move like 9. g3 or 9. h4 to stop the needle, or he can try 9. f4. Now suppose Black continues with his needle: 9. ... Qh4+ 10. g3 Qh3. Now White has one saving move here: 11. Qh5+.
The Mirror.
Black must now either take the White queen or block the check with 11. ... g6 after which White can take the Black queen.
Let's look at another queen tactic called the dagger. Consider: 1. Nc3 e5 2. e3 c6 3. Nh3 h6??.
White to Move.
Thanks to Black weakening the g6 square, White now has a winning queen tactic: 4. Qg4 f5 5. Qg6+ [1-0].
The Dagger.
Perhaps the most humiliating queen tactic to lose to is the stab. Consider 1. Nh3 g4?? 2. e3!
Black to Move.
Black's first move loses by force. White's win is based on a threatened queen tactic. We won't present all of the analysis here that proves the win (you can find that in the Opening section of the book), we'll just illustrate the tactic. For example, suppose Black responds with 2. ... d5. Then: 3. Qh5 [1-0].
The Stab.
Now all Black has is the grovelling 3. ... Kd7 after which 4. Bb5+ leads to an easy win.
Sometimes, to clear way for a queen tactic, a knight must be sacrificed for a pawn. Consider: 1. Nf3 f6 2. e3 d5.
White to Move.
White sees that if his knight on f3 and the pawn on f6 were gone, then he would have a queen tactic (the goose). So: 3. Ng5 fxg5 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qe5 Be6 6. Qxc7.
Clearing Way for the Goose.
Next, consider: 1. Nf3 f6 2. Nd4 Nh6 3. Nf5 Nxf5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e4 Na6?.
White to Move.
Here, White looks for queen tactics because his queen has an open diagonal. He sees that if the Black pawn on c6 were gone, he would have a queen tactic (the deadly seven). Therefore he plays: 6. Nd5! cxd5?? (Black loses by force now, but he hardly had anything better)7. Qh5+ g6 8. Qd5 [1-0].
Clearing Way for the Deadly Seven.
We'll now look at a very important tactic involving another knight sac to clear room for the queen, but this time the queen will be sacrificed too. Consider 1. Nh3 f6 2. Nc3 c6 3. e3! e6? 4. Nb5! cxb5.
White to Move.
Here, White's queen has a lot of room to manouver, but there is no obvious tactic. But there is a subtle tactic hidden in the position based on White's bishop on f1: 5. Qh5+ g6 6. Qb5 Nc6 (6. ... Kf7?? 7. Nf4 [1-0]) 7. Qb6!.
The Hook.
White sacrifices his queen, and no matter how Black takes it he will lose. For example: 7. ... axb6?? 8. Bb5! Kf7 9. Nf4 [1-0], or 7. ... Qxb6?? 8. Bb5! Kf7 9. Nf4 [1-0]. In fact, the best Black can do is lose a lot of material with 7. ... Qc7 8. Qxb7 [+-].
The hook tactic surprisingly comes up a lot in a variety of openings. Here it is again: 1. e3 d6? 2. Nc3 c6 3. Nd5! cxd5 4. Qh5 g6 5. Qb5+ Nc6 6. Qb6!
The Hook.
Here, 6. ... axb6 loses to 7. Bb5+ [1-0], and 6. ... Qxb6 loses to 7. Bb5+ Kd8 8. Bd7! [1-0].
The hook represents a leap forward in atomic chess theory. It was discovered probably in 2004 that has undoubtedly rehaped opening theory. I don't know who discovered it first. Even more recently (2005 or 2006), a potential defense to the hook has been found by tipau (FICS). Consider: 1. e3 d6 2. Nf3 f6 3. Nd4 c6.
The Hook.
Black is offering White the hook if he wants it. Suppose play continues: 4. Nb5 cxb5 5. Qh5+ g6 6. Qb5 Nc6 7. Qb6 Kf7!
Evading the Hook.
The king is actually quite safe from immediate harm: 8. Qc7. Now here comes tipau's piece clearing manouver: 8. ... Bb4 9. c3 Qf8!
White to Move.
Black seems to be safe. But one of the drawbacks to this defense is that White can draw by repetition if he wishes: 10. Qf4 Ke8 11. Qc7 Kf7 12. Qf4 etc. So, don't play this defense if your opponent is rated much lower than you (since he would probably be happy to gain the points from a draw).
Let's take a look at another hook. Just as White often sacrifices a knight to make room for a queen tactic, he sometimes even sacrifices both knights. Consider: 1. Nf3 f6 2. e3 d6?! 3. Nc3 c6
White to Move.
White will now sacrifice both knights to prepare for the hook: 4. Nd5 cxd5 5. Ng5 fxg5 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qb5+ Nc6 8. Qb6.
Black to Move.
Note that tipau's defense doesn't work here (8. ... Kf7 9. Bc4+ d5 10. Qc7 Kg7?? 11. Qf4! [1-0] for example), but it is worth seeing what will happen if Black takes the queen: 8. ... axb6 9. Bb5+ Kf7 10. Be8+ Ke6 11. Bd7+ Kf7 12. Bxc8 Rxa2 [+=].
White to Move.
White has two pawns for a knight (sometimes all you get from the hook), which should be enough to win.
The queen tactics presented in this chapter each come up in many different contexts, and it is important to be aware of them all, not to memorize the particular opening sequences I've given above. I'll end this chapter with another deadly seven that comes up in a different context to show you the flexibility of these tactics. Consider: 1. Nf3 f6 2. Nd4 Nh6 3. Nf5 Nxf5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e4 d5?.
White to Move.
White initiates a knight sacrifice now because of the position of the center pawns (see the chapter on Knight Tactics): 6. Nb5 cxb5 7. Bb5+ Nc6 8. d4! (not 8. exd5?? Qxd2 [0-1]).
Black to Move.
White is threatening to take on d5, removing the Black knight with check. Black has no good defense and probably loses by force in a few moves. I'll illustrate one line: 8. ... dxe4 9. Qh5+ g6 10. Qd5! [1-0].
An Unconventional Deadly Seven.
White wins. Black cannot take the queen because his knight would be removed, exposing his king to check.