X-Ray Defence

Summary

Todays article is part 2 of 2 in my mini-lesson series on the X-ray motif. This follows up on my previous article which you can find in my blog here on Lichess or in the link for the original article: X-Ray Attacks: Hidden Pressure, Sudden Impact. If you haven’t seen that one yet be sure to check it out, as it introduces the theme and covers attacking patterns and puzzles involving the X-ray motif. While in the first article we explored the offensive potential of the X-ray, in this lesson we flip the board and explore X-rays as a defensive motif. This is far less charted but equally important to grasp. As we defined in the previous lesson, X-rays involve a piece eyeing a square through the body of another piece. Even though the contact in indirect, the influence is still exerted within the line of sight of our piece. We’ve seen how is utilised in attacking themes, but this can work to your favour defensively too! This is demonstrated by the below example: Defensive X-ray – Introductory Example: We have to guard Black’s checkmate threat on g2. Rg1 is not available, but there is another defence: https://lichess.org/study/kWe6Ipj6/rRKXjK1f#0 Rb2 indirectly defends g2 via an X-ray through Blacks Qf2. White’s will survive Blacks attack and will win by material. In general, defensive tactics and puzzles are underrepresented in chess literature and resources. Probably because brilliant attacks are more satisfying to execute and solve, and defence generally does not attract attention. But learning to spot defensive resources is just as important to our chess development. Every player will be attacked and learning how to survive will save many points. In the following six examples of gradual difficulty, we’ll explore how an X-ray defence holds the position together when the position looked gloom otherwise. Just like in the introductory example, in each case the defender seems to be in trouble, but a hidden lifeline lurks if you can identify the X-ray motif. Hopefully these e...