Torre's Windmill

Why It's Famous

Played in Moscow against a former World Champion nearly twice his age, the young Mexican master Carlos Torre unleashed the single most famous "windmill" combination in chess history, directly referenced on this site's own Windmill strategy page.

Starting with 25.Bf6!!, Torre's rook and bishop combine so that every time the rook captures a pawn (or, eventually, Lasker's own queen), it also uncovers check from the bishop — forcing the king to shuffle back and forth while the rook methodically devours g7, f7, the queen on h5, and more, swinging back to safety after every single capture.

By the position shown here (move 43), White has already won overwhelming material through the windmill alone, and went on to win the game — a demonstration that a well-timed discovered check machine can be worth more than almost any amount of material given up to set it in motion.