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The X-Ray Attack
Seeing Through the Obstacles
Usually, we think of pieces as blocking each other. But in an X-Ray, the blocking piece is just a temporary ghost. A famous example involves a "hidden" checkmate threat by Paul Keres.
Paul Keres vs. Alexander Kotov
Parnu (1947) • Sicilian Defense
1. The X-Ray Vision
The Situation: White's Queen on d1 seems blocked by the Black pawn on d6.
The Hidden Truth: Keres realized his Queen was actually X-Raying the square d8. If the d6 pawn moves, Qd8 is Checkmate!
Kotov (Black) felt safe because his pawn on e5 was supported by the d6 pawn. This was a fatal illusion.
2. The Collapse
The Move: 20. Nxe5! (Black Resigns)
White captures the e5 pawn. Black cannot recapture!
- If ...dxe5 (taking the Knight), the d-file opens, and the White Queen flies through to Qd8# (Mate).
- Meanwhile, the White Knight on e5 now attacks Black's Queen on c6.
- The Black Queen has no safe squares. Keres crushed Kotov's position in one move.
From the Archives
"Kotov's tree of analysis must have completely collapsed here."
— Kingscrusher
"Tactics don't just work against pieces. Today's puzzle shows tactics working against **squares**. The d6-pawn was pinned not to a piece, but to the d8 square."
♟️ Related Concepts
The Pin
The X-Ray is often a special type of Pin. In this game, the d6 pawn was pinned to the d8 checkmate square.
Attacking the King
Always look for "Geometry" on the board—lines that open up unexpectedly.