defence · recognise → explain → apply

Save the game by repeated queen checks

Your queen can check from a cycle of safe squares and the king has no profitable escape.

Explanation styleChoose any style. Age is not playing strength; no birth date is needed.

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Notes and replay positions are saved. Practice games are temporary; export their PGN to keep them.

Choose an example

Giri,A – Grischuk,A

Chessable Masters Final 8 · 2020.06.26 · 1/2-1/2

38. Qc8+ · Black to move

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What to notice at 38. Qc8+

The final queen-and-knight sequence repeats checks; the game is recorded as a draw.

A legally replayed historical example, not a claim that every move is best. A game’s result does not prove every defensive position was lost or drawn.

Game source ↗

Your thinking first

Name the signal, choose a plan, and test the opponent’s most challenging response.

What do you notice?What is your plan, and why?How could the opponent resist?

Recall and explain

1. Which two checking ideas recur near the end?

Explain it in your own words before revealing.

Make it memorable

A safe checking cycle can outweigh extra material.

Teach this to a friend in one minute. Then return to a different example and look for the same signal without being told its name.

Reflect and revisit

This is your self-assessment, not an engine grade or a promise of mastery.

Connect the ideas

Practise pawn transformations →

Sources and further reading

Original LumaChess teaching and game analysis. Topic references are credited below; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

FIDE — Laws of Chess, Articles 5 and 9 ↗