A battery in

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

is a formation that consists of two or more pieces on the same rank, file, or diagonal. It is a

tactic Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tact ...

involved in planning a series of captures to remove the protection of the opponent's king, or to simply gain in the exchanges. Other chess authors limit battery to "an arrangement of two pieces ''in line with the enemy king'' on a rank, file, or diagonal so that if the middle piece moves a discovered check will be delivered." However, in

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blogs and game annotations of other chess websites, the term is also used in cases where moving the middle piece will uncover a threat other than a check along the opened line.

Discussion and examples

It is particularly effective to form a battery using

rooks Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military *Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

because they may be combined to occupy the same rank or file. In theory, bishops may also form a battery in a case of

underpromotion In chess, promotion is the replacement of a pawn with a new piece when the pawn is moved to its last . The player replaces the pawn immediately with a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same . The new piece does not have to be a previously ca ...

of a pawn to a bishop occupying the same diagonal as the other bishop. In actual games, however, the

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and rooks are often employed. Batteries are often used as part of a

combination In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are th ...

which may involve other types of

chess tactics In chess, a tactic is a sequence of moves that each makes one or more immediate threats ─ that is, a Check (chess), check, a Glossary of chess#material, material threat, a Checkmate, checkmating sequence threat, or the threat of another tactic � ...

as well. In some chess openings, the queen is often involved in the set up, and becomes part of a battery but is reserved for the final capture in the series of exchange of pieces. For example, in the main line of the Closed Sicilian characterized by 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6, where White's main options are 6.Be3 followed by Qd2 and O-O-O; and 6.f4 followed by Nf3 and O-O, White's intention is to form a battery with the rooks.

References

External links

Chess Games Strategies • Chess Battery Attack
examples {{chess Chess tactics Chess terminology

Discussion and examples

See also

References

External links