White to Play

Pete Tamburro on Mar 6, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

This will be our last Isolated Queen Pawn lesson. In fifteen lessons,if you studied the positions and some of the full games offered, you added to your chess knowledge. Today’s game is special in that you get to see an unusual aspect of the attack. Then, you get a thorough study of what might have happened if Black had defended more resolutely. There are lots of mini lessons along the way which we hope you will take advantage in studying.The game was Pillsbury,H. - Winawer,S., Budapest, 1896 and started out 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0–0 0–0 8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Nxe4 10.Bxe4 Nf6 11.Bc2 h6 12.Be3 Re8 13.Qd3 Qc7 14.c5 Bf8 15.Ne5! Bxc5 SEE DIAGRAM Now, what should you do?

Pillsbury,of course, realizes he can’t take the bishop because he would drop the knight, but he comes up with a brilliant sacrificial idea 16.Bxh6 Bxd4 16...gxh6 17.Qg3+ Kf8 18.Ng6+ wins the queen 17.Qxd4 gxh6 18.Qf4 Nd5 19.Qxh6 f6 Worthy of study is what Pillsbury would have done if Winawer had put up stiffer resistance. It’s a lesson on when to exchange and when not to exchange and why. We leave that to you to figure out--19...f5 20.f4 Qg7 21.Qh4 Qf6 22.Qe1 Re7 23.Rf3 Rg7 24.Bb3 Bd7 25.Rg3 Be8 26.Bxd5 exd5 27.Rd1 Rd8 28.Rdd3 Rd6 29.Qa5 Re6 30.Rxg7+ Kxg7 31.Qxa7 Qe7 32.Rg3+ Kh7 33.Qd4 Rg6 34.Rh3+ Rh6 35.Re3 Re6 36.b4 b5 37.Rh3+ Rh6 38.Rg3 Re6 39.a3 Qf6 40.Qc3 Qe7 41.Rg5 20.f4 Re7 21.Ng6 Black Resigns as a queen mate at f8 or h8 follows.

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.