Chess tactics
What Is a Windmill in Chess?
A windmill is a repeated series of discovered checks. One piece, usually a rook, moves away and captures with discovered check, then returns to give check again, and the cycle repeats while the opponent can only move the king back and forth.
Example
1. Rxf7+ Kg8 2. Rg7+ Kh8 3. Rxd7+ Kg8 4. Rg7+ Kh8 5. Rxb7+ Kg8 6. Rg7+ Kh8 7. Rg5+ Kh7 8. Rxc5
Each rook move along the seventh rank uncovers check from the bishop on f6, and Rg7+ returns to check the king again. White collects f7, d7, and b7. Then Rg5+ uncovers one more check, the king runs to h7, and Rxc5 takes the queen.
How the windmill works
The classic setup is a rook on g7 in front of a king on h8, with a bishop on the long diagonal behind the rook. When the rook leaves g7 along the seventh rank, the bishop gives check, and the king's only square is g8. When the rook comes back to g7, it gives check itself, protected by the bishop, and the king must go back to h8.
Each cycle takes two moves, and on every other move the rook captures something. The opponent never gets a free move, so everything the rook can reach along the seventh rank is up for grabs.
What makes it work
Black must have no way to break the cycle: no piece that can capture the bishop or block on g7, and no flight square except the one the pattern allows. In the example the knight on f8 takes that square from the king and cannot reach g7, so Black is helpless.
Before you start, check every black reply at each step. One interposition or one capture of the checking piece stops the windmill cold.
A famous windmill
The best-known windmill was played by Carlos Torre against Emanuel Lasker in Moscow in 1925, with a rook and bishop working the same way as in the example. The example here is a constructed position that shows the pattern, not the game itself.
Common questions
What is the difference between a windmill and a discovered check?
A windmill is a chain of discovered checks. A single discovered check wins one thing, while a windmill repeats the trick and can win several pieces in a row.
Which pieces can make a windmill?
The rook and bishop pair is the classic one, but any combination where one piece can alternate between giving direct check and uncovering check from another piece can work.
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