Project approval after AI review on November 2, 2026. Human proofreading is still pending.
Lesson 29
Attacking a weakness from two sides
- What you will learn
- You attack a weakness from different sides in turn, until the defense can no longer keep up.
- What you should already know
- How a rook attacks on the seventh rank
- How to protect an important point with several pieces
- Lesson 12: A rook breaks in
- Lesson 28: Overprotecting important points
Time: about 7 minutes
Thinking questions in this lesson
You can ask yourself these thinking questions in any position. They help you find a good move.
- What is the threat?
- Which piece could be better placed?
Step 1 of 7
Look first
A rook endgame played by Rubinstein in 1921, which Nimzowitsch shows in “My System”. Your rook has broken into the seventh rank.
You are playing White. Tap all the black pawns that your rook on e7 attacks. Check when you have marked them all.
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space marks a square or removes the mark.
Choose a square from a list
Position as a list
White
- King g1
- Rook e7
- Pawn a3
- Pawn c2
- Pawn c3
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King b7
- Rook h8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b6
- Pawn c7
- Pawn d5
- Pawn h7
Step 2 of 7
Decide
A few moves later. The pawn on h7 is well protected, and Black wants to get a passed pawn with b5–b4.
You are playing White. Your rook on f7 attacks the pawn on h7 along the rank, but the rook on h8 protects it. Which plan do you choose?
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Position as a list
White
- King g3
- Rook f7
- Pawn a3
- Pawn c2
- Pawn c3
- Pawn g5
- Pawn h4
Black
- King d6
- Rook h8
- Pawn a4
- Pawn b5
- Pawn c5
- Pawn d5
- Pawn h7
Step 3 of 7
Try it
Black has moved the rook from h8 to a8, behind the passed pawn on a4.
You are playing White. Which move do you play now?
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Choose a move from a list
Position as a list
White
- King g3
- Rook h6
- Pawn b4
- Pawn c2
- Pawn g5
- Pawn h4
Black
- King c7
- Rook a8
- Pawn a4
- Pawn d5
- Pawn h7
Step 4 of 7
Why does it work?
A single piece can often hold a weakness. If you attack it from different sides, new threats arise, and the defenders end up awkwardly placed.
If the defender also has to help elsewhere, it can no longer keep up, and the weakness falls. Nimzowitsch calls this back and forth with a fixed aim maneuvering against a weakness.
Key idea
Attack a weakness from different sides in turn, until the defense can no longer keep up.
When does this apply?
Maneuvering needs patience and a safe position of your own. At every move, check what your opponent is threatening, and do not give up a piece just to capture the weakness at once.
Step 5 of 7
New position, same idea
A game in which Nimzowitsch himself maneuvers. He has Black and attacks the white pawns again and again.
You are playing Black. With which rook move do you attack the pawn on f2?
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Choose a move from a list
Position as a list
White
- King f1
- Rook c1
- Bishop e3
- Knight g1
- Knight g2
- Pawn b4
- Pawn c3
- Pawn d4
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g4
- Pawn h3
Black
- King e7
- Rook a1
- Bishop d6
- Knight e6
- Knight f4
- Pawn b5
- Pawn c6
- Pawn d5
- Pawn f6
- Pawn g5
- Pawn h4
Step 6 of 7
Compare your targets
The previous exercise step asks for Ra2 against f2. Stay in this game. Look among the candidates offered for another target and give a reason for your choice. This is a guided comparison of the same position.
Ra2 attacks the pawn on f2. Which other rook move on offer attacks a pawn without losing the rook at once? Choose a candidate and a reason.
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Position as a list
White
- King f1
- Rook c1
- Bishop e3
- Knight g1
- Knight g2
- Pawn b4
- Pawn c3
- Pawn d4
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g4
- Pawn h3
Black
- King e7
- Rook a1
- Bishop d6
- Knight e6
- Knight f4
- Pawn b5
- Pawn c6
- Pawn d5
- Pawn f6
- Pawn g5
- Pawn h4
Step 7 of 7
Nimzowitsch and today
Source
Nimzowitsch writes, in substance, that maneuvering is not aimless shuffling back and forth; every maneuvering action has a clear aim, the conquest of a particular weakness. You attack it in turn in different ways and force the opponent’s pieces into awkward defensive positions, until the weakness can no longer be held. In Rubinstein – Seleznev, the pawn on h7 is fired at now from the seventh rank, now from the h-file; he gives 34. Rf6+ an exclamation mark, and about 38. Rxh7+ he writes that the “weakness” has fallen (our translation). The texts are newly written for the course; the positions come from Rubinstein – Seleznev, Gothenburg 1921, and Kalashnikov – Nimzowitsch, St Petersburg 1914.
- My System, part II, chapter 5 (in German): “Das Lavieren gegen eine Schwäche” (original text not yet published)
Today’s view (editorial note)
Related is today’s principle of two weaknesses: against two targets, the defense often finds it harder to keep up than against one. Patience is part of it, especially in the endgame.