What is windmill in chess?

Tactics

Windmill

Definition

A windmill is a devastating tactical pattern in chess where a piece delivers a series of discovered checks by alternately moving away from and returning to the same square, while the piece behind it repeatedly checks the king. Each cycle of the windmill captures material, producing massive gains.

The windmill is one of the most spectacular and destructive tactical patterns in chess. It typically involves a rook delivering discovered checks by alternating positions while a bishop provides the actual check each time the rook moves. With each rotation of the "windmill," the rook captures a new piece.

The most famous example of a windmill occurred in the game Torre versus Lasker (1925), where Carlos Torre's rook and bishop combined to systematically strip Black's pieces from the board through a sequence of discovered checks. The windmill is rare in practice but devastating when it occurs.

To set up a windmill, you need a long-range piece (usually a bishop) aimed at the enemy king with one of your pieces on the line of attack. If that front piece can capture material and return to the discovery line with each move, the windmill begins turning. Recognizing the geometric prerequisites for a windmill is the key to exploiting this pattern.

Related terms

Discovered AttackA discovered attack is a tactic where a piece moves out of the way, revealing an attack from another piece behind it on the same line. The moving piece can simultaneously create its own threat, making it extremely difficult for the opponent to handle both attacks at once.Double CheckDouble check is a special form of discovered attack where both the moving piece and the uncovered piece give check to the opponent's king simultaneously. The only way to escape a double check is to move the king, since blocking or capturing can only address one of the two checks.SkewerA skewer is a tactic in chess where a valuable piece is attacked along a line, and when it moves out of the attack, a less valuable piece behind it is exposed and captured. It is essentially the reverse of a pin, with the more valuable piece in front rather than behind.X-RayAn x-ray (or x-ray attack) is a tactic in chess where a long-range piece exerts influence through another piece occupying the same line. The attacking piece indirectly defends a square or targets an enemy piece behind an obstruction, as if seeing through the intervening piece with x-ray vision.

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