(2) Other RC Checkmates
There are other essential Chariot-Cannon checkmates for which no specific names have been given. The following diagrams, while not intended to be exhaustive, should serve as a practical summary.
This is a very common frontal attack formation. The Cannon with the enemy Elephant as carriage, cuts off the Black King’s escape.
The Red Chariot is controlling Black’s 2nd rank; C7+7 checkmates at once. Here the Red Chariot could be replaced by a Pawn. If it were Black’s turn, he would deliver checkmate with R2+7.
The Chariot move kills three birds with one stone. It performs a discovered check; it seals Black’s 2nd rank; and it immobilises the Elephant. We could call this checkmate the ‘RC Discovered Checkmate’.
The ‘paralysed carriage’ is also an interesting theme that appears in many endgame compositions.
This one is included here because the threat of such a checkmate is quite common in real games. However, it is in essence a ‘Smothered Checkmate”. You can find out more via the Smothered Checkmate link in the sub-menu.
On the next page, you will find a classic game from the ancient manual《橘中秘》(Secrets in the Tangerine) embracing the tactics of the Iron Bolt and the Stacking Cannons.