Here you see FREDDIE, GERRY and HARRY.

Their job is to protect the King.

They must stay where they are, without moving unless they have to.

Because...

... Burglar Bill is waiting to come in and steal the Crown Jewels.

If Freddie, Gerry and Harry don't move the King will be safe.

But if, for example, Gerry were to move out of the way...

... there he is, standing in front of Freddie ...

Burglar Bill would be able to walk right in.

It's Goodbye Crown Jewels!

But what's this got to do with chess? Let's play a few moves and find out.

It's easy to remember the first three moves for White.

The game starts:

1. e2-e4 e7-e5
2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6
3. Bf1-c4

King's Pawn, King's Knight, King's Bishop. Get your chess set out now and play through the moves on your board.

The White Bishop ATTACKS the Black Pawn on f7 (remember Achilles?)

Now Black has two popular choices: Bf8-c5 (the GIUOCO PIANO or ITALIAN GAME) or Ng8-f6 (the TWO KNIGHTS' DEFENCE).

But we can follow our plan no matter which move Black chooses.

Next we move our Queen's Pawn, then our Queen's Knight.

So the game might continue

3...Bf8-c5
4. d2-d3 Ng8-f6
5. Nb1-c3 d7-d6

Giving this position.

So far it's SYMMETRICAL.

Both players have moved the same pieces to the same squares.

Can you find a move for White which PINS the Black Knight on f6 to the Black Queen?


Let's suppose first that the game continues:

6. Bc1-g5 Nf6-g4.

Black's THREATENING f2! Are you scared by this? How would you continue?


Yes, of course. Who cares about defending f2 when you can take the Queen!

You moved the Bishop to g5 to PIN the Knight, remember!

Moving the Knight wasn't a great idea for White, was it?

Let's go back and give Black a better move.

This time Black chooses to CASTLE instead.

Better than moving the PINNED Knight, but not, as it happens, the best move.

Stop and look at this position for a moment.

Look at Black's King side. There's the King castled on g8. And there, in front, are FREDDIE, GERRY and HARRY on f7, g7 and h7.

They're not going to move from their positions if they can help it.

But there's a CUNNING PLAN we can use here to persuade Gerry to move out of the way.
Can you think of a way in which White can ATTACK the PINNED Black Knight again. If you want a clue, look at your Knights.
Yes, that's right. The Knight goes to d5 to ATTACK the PINNED Knight.

If you're wrestling someone you pin them to the ground so that they can't move and then attack them with everything you've got.

It's just the same with chess.

And if you look carefully at the position you'll see that Black has no way of DEFENDING the Knight on f6 again.

A few questions on this position. See if you can visualise what's going to happen without moving the pieces.

If Black plays Nf6xd5 would you play ...

Bc4xd5 e4xd5

Bg5xd8 Tic-Tac-Toe


Of course you'd take the Queen, wouldn't you?

And if Black, scared of the PIN, played Qd8-d7 what would you play?

Nd5xf6+ Bg5xf6

Nd5xc7 Tetris


Both captures on f6 are good, but it's better to take with the Bishop, because, if he takes back, the Knight will FORK the King and Queen.

And if Black played h7-h6 you would play...

Nd5xf6+ Bg5xf6

Bg5xh6 Battleships


That time it was better to take with the Knight, so that the Bishop could take the Pawn on h6 next move.

Play out all these moves on your board to make sure you understand them before moving on to the next frame.

Let's give Black a slightly better move: a7-a6, reaching this position.

Set it up on your board and have a look.

Now White can capture the Knight on f6 with either the Knight or the Bishop.

Whichever he chooses, Black has nothing better than to recapture with the g-pawn.

Gerry has to move out of position - and change his name to Freddie.

Let's look first at what happens if White takes with the Knight (probably best in this position). Play these moves on your board:

Nxf6+ g7xf6
Bg5-h6 (THREATENING the Rook) Rf8-e8

giving the position on your left.

White's plan is to deliver CHECKMATE on g7 with his Queen (Burglar Bill!). But first he must move the Knight out of the way.

So White plays Nf3-h4, and now suppose Black plays Nc6-a5 to try to get rid of the Bishop.

What would you play next?

Qd1-e2 Qd1-f3

Qd1-g4+ Qd1-h5


OK, White plays Qd1-f3, and Black, who hasn't seen what's coming, plays Na5xc4, giving the position on your left.

Now what?

d3xc4 Qf3xf6

Qf3-g4+ Qf3-g3+


White plays Qf3-g3+ giving Black no choice: Kg8-h8.

How does White finish off?

d3xc4 Bh6-g7+

Qg3-g7+ Qg3-g8+


And there we have it: CHECKMATE with the Queen next to the King!!

If you learn this attacking idea you'll win SO MANY GAMES!!

Now we'll go back a few moves and look at another plan.
Go back and set up this position again.

Now we'll see what might happen if White takes with the Bishop on f6.

In this position it's not quite as good, but in other, similar, positions it can be better.

Again, Black has to take with the Pawn, so he has a DOUBLE FREDDIE.

Gerry has again moved away, and changed his name to Freddie.

This time our target for the Queen (Burglar Bill!) is the Pawn on f6.

So White moves his Queen to d2. Black can try to defend with Kg8-g7 but let's imagine he plays b7-b5, giving this position.

It's White's turn. What would you suggest?

Bc4-b3 Nd5xf6+

Qd2-g5+ Qd2-h6


Well done! White plays Qd2-h6 and Black replies b5xc4, winning a Bishop.

Over to you.

Nd5xf6+ Qh6xf6

Qh6xh7+ d3xc4


Congratulations! White plays Nd5xf6+ and Black, not wanting to lose his Queen, goes Kg8-h8. And the winning move is...

Qh6-g7+ Qh6xh7+

Nf6xh7 d3xc4


And there we are - CHECKMATE!

The Queen next to the King again - but this time on h7, not g7.

Again, learning this idea will bring you so many victories.

But before we leave you, let's go right back...

...to this position.

It's easy to remember the moves for White.

Pawn, Knight, Bishop (on the King side), then Pawn, Knight, Bishop on the Queen side.

Got it?

But here it's very tempting for White to move the Knight, not the Bishop, to g5.
This looks quite scary for Black. The Knight is THREATENING a FORK on f7. But Black has a very simple way to defend f7 and make his King safe at the same time.

Can you find the move?


Yes, it's quite simple: Black castles (if you didn't get the notation right you should have entered e8g8 - when you castle in these lessons enter the King move).

Now White can exchange some pieces on f7:

Bc4xf7+ Rf8xf7
Ng5xf7 Kg8xf7

Is this a good idea? We'll see.

IMPORTANT LESSON!!

It's NOT a good idea for White - in this position Black has the advantage. Why?

Two reasons: firstly, Bishops are, on average, worth a little bit more than three points so in fact Black is slightly ahead.

And secondly, Black has a big lead in development and plenty of time to bring his King back to safety.

Lots of kids use this idea in their games. Don't be one of them - it's not very good!!

ANOTHER IMPORTANT LESSON!!

In MOST openings it's good to castle quickly.

But in THIS opening it's usually NOT good to castle quickly, unless your opponent plays a quick Knight attack to THREATEN your f-pawn.

In this position, if White castles Black will play Bc8-g4, Nc6-d4, give YOU the DOUBLE FREDDIE, and get a strong attack.

IF YOU REMEMBER NOTHING ELSE IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE REMEMBER THIS!!!

Congratulations!!

You have now completed the DOUBLE FREDDIE assignment.