Queen and Rook on the Open Rook File
Usually, the queen and rook form a battery on the rook-file (i.e. a or h file) with the simple and direct goal of mating the opponent’s king. The way to do it is also simple and direct and here is the rule – if the king has no escape route then it does not matter if the queen is before the rook but if the king has an escape route then the queen is better placed behind the rook. Let us start with the simple example – where the king has no escape route.
Christiansen – Carter, Ventura 1974) Here White played 14 Nxh7! Kxh7 15 Qh5+ Kg8 16 Nf6+ gxf6 16 Re4 1-0. It is clear that the black king has no way out because he is trapped by his own pieces. For example, 16…f5 17 Rh4 f6 18 Qh8+ Kf7 19 Rh7# The rook on e8 and the bishop on e6 prevent the king from escaping.
But if the king has more “air” around him, there is a need for the queen to have a diagonal to prevent the king from dodging. Consider the following basic example:
(Zukertort – Anderssen 1870) In this position a check by the queen would be useless – the king would go to f7. Hence, the rook has to “jump” over the queen and mate the black king while the queen stands still on h5. This fantasy is realized quite easily with 18 Qg6 Ba6 19 Rh7 Qc7 20 Qh5 1-0
A more complex example of reversing the queen and rook order is given in the following position:
(Alekhine – Appel, Lodz 1933) 21 Re4 Qd7 22 Rh4 Qe8 23 Qd3 Rc7 24 Qh3 (the ideal formation has been achieved). 24…Kf8 25 Rh8 Ng8 26 Re1 Bc8 27 Qh4 1-0
The last example we’ll see today is the most complex one. A close studying of this position will give the reader a good sense of the advantages given to the attacker when the queen stays behind the rook. I recommend that you annotate this position on a real board.
(Eingorn – Christiansen, Reykjavik 1990) Objectively, Black’s attack is not an adequate compensation for the two minor pieces he sacrificed. The white king has a lot of space and at this stage only the queen and rook can join the attack. Still, since Black has already sacrificed material, he is, obviously, obliged to continue the attack. 31…hxg3+ 32 Kg2? White wins after 32 Kxg3 (forcing the black queen to take a position ahead of the h8 rook) 32…Qh4+ 33 Kg2. For example 33…Qh2+ 34 Kf1 Qh1 35 Ng1. 32…Rh2+ Now the ideal formation is achieved, Black has a draw. 33 Kf3 Qh4 34 N2xg3? White should eliminate Black’s potential attacker at c5. After 34 Nxc5 Qh5+ 35 Ke4 Qf5+ 36 Kf3 Qh5+ the game is drawn. 34…f5! Threatening mate and, more importantly, cutting the e4 flight square. 35 Nf2
35…Ne4! 36 Ngxe4 Qh5+! The queen uses the diagonal we were talking about. 37 Kg3 fxe4 0-1 the f3 square is cut by the e4 pawn, and mate on the e1-h4 diagonal follows.
We have seen the advantage of letting the queen work behind the rook on the rook file. How do the queen and rook cooperate on the 8th rank? This will be the topic of one of our next middlegame column.