How To Fight 2 Queens

I noticed that when I teach the rules of chess to kids, almost nothing excites them more than a pawn promotion. I can see sparkles in the kids' eyes and have to answer the unavoidable question: "So, I can have two queens at the same time?"

Of course I explain that theoretically it is possible to have even nine queens of the same color at the same time.

In my old article I analyzed the games where the total numbers of queens on the board was four or more. In most cases when your opponent has two queens vs. your lonely lady, the side with two queens has a huge advantage.

The recent game from the Russian Higher League proves that it is very difficult to play vs. two queens!

So, what should you do if you find yourself in such an unenviable situation where you have to fight two queens?

The first and most important advice is do not panic! Let's look at the following classical combination. Can you find a beautiful tactic for White?

This is how this beautiful combination was given in countless textbooks on tactics. But in 1980s, the famous Soviet coach Mark Dvoretsky found that the resignation was premature. Now, can you find a defense for Black?

As you could see, Black's lonely queen successfully fought against two white queens. But can you fight the opponent's queens if you don't have any? As another game from the Russian Higher League shows, yes you can!

Now try to find the correct solution in the following tricky position:

If you think that in the position above you found a simple win for White, you are not alone. The two-time Soviet champion GM Tseshkovsky also thought this way and in severe time trouble he executed a "winning" combination. Find what he missed:

With all the examples that we studied today you could possibly get the extreme idea that two queens are greatly overrated and useless. A similar mistake was made GM Howell when he resigned in the position where he had two queens. Try to find how he could continue the game:

I wish you many wins in your games regardless of the number of queens you have!