Some chess ideas look like magic until someone shows you the gears. The windmill — also called a seesaw — is one of them. It is a repeated sequence of alternating direct checks and discovered checks, and when it fires, it can hand a single piece an absurd pile of loot.
What is a windmill?
Picture a rook supported by a bishop. The rook gives a check, the enemy king steps aside, and the rook captures whatever happens to hang while the discovered bishop check forces the king back again. The king shuttles forward and back like a lever — hence "seesaw" — while on every off-turn the rook reaches out and grabs a pawn, a piece, sometimes a whole queen.
The windmill is rare in practice. But the classic example is so clean it teaches the whole idea in one game.
Torre vs Lasker, Moscow 1925
A young Mexican master named Carlos Torre Repetto sat down to face the former world champion Emanuel Lasker at Moscow in 1925. (Efim Bogoljubow won that tournament; Torre tied for 5th–6th.) By the middle game, Lasker's queen had just grabbed material — an aggressive, confident stroke from a legend.
Torre's reply was something else entirely: 25. Bf6!! — a move that offered his own queen on h5, a gift so dangerous that Black faced a miserable choice. If he declined the windmill in the wrong way, things got worse. So Lasker took the queen.
That was exactly what Torre wanted.
Now the machine started. 26. Rxg7+ Kh8 — check. 27. Rxf7+ Kg8 — discovered check from the bishop, the rook takes a pawn. 28. Rg7+ Kh8. 29. Rxb7+ Kg8. 30. Rg7+ Kh8. 31. Rg5+ Kh7. 32. Rxh5.
Read that sequence again. In seven moves, the rook swept the g7, f7, and b7 pawns off the board, then captured the very queen Lasker had grabbed earlier. The windmill had run its course, and Torre went on to win the game. The rook never stopped checking, so Black never had a free move to respond.
The windmill lives on
If the name sounds familiar, you have probably seen the pattern before. The Game of the Century — Fischer vs Byrne, 1956 — features a windmill of its own, played with a knight and bishop instead of a rook. A young Bobby Fischer used the same back-and-forth idea to devastating effect. Rarity, not impossibility, is the lesson.
What beginners can take away
A windmill is rare, but it stands for something you will meet every single game:
- Never grab material with a distracted king. If your king is stuck on the back rank and your opponent's pieces are aimed at it, that hanging pawn is bait, not a gift.
- Always look for forcing moves. Repeated checks give your opponent no air. When you see a check, ask: can this check keep coming, and what can I take on the way?
- Strength can come from an offer. Torre gave away his queen to start the storm. The best combination is often the one the opponent has to accept.
Next time your king finds itself shuttled back and forth with no escape, remember Moscow 1925. Somewhere behind that seesaw sit three pawns — and quite possibly your queen.
All facts verified against historical records. Young players building their opening repertoire may also enjoy the training exercises at Stacksignal.