Editing Cross-check (chess) (section)

===Botvinnik vs. Minev game===
{{Chess diagram
| tright
|Botvinnik vs. Minev, 1954
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 
|  |  |xo|  |  |  |pl| 
|  |  |oo|  |  |  |  | 
|  |  |kl|ql|  |  |  | 
|kd|  |oo|oo|  |  |  | 
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 
|  |  |xo|  |  |xo|  |qd
|  |  |  |  |  |  |xo| 
|Black, to move, resigned. Black dots are where the black queen can check; white dots are where the white queen can cross-check in reply.
}}

Cross-checks are rare in actual play, though they do occur, and in some [[Chess endgame|endgames]], particularly [[Queen (chess)|queen]] endgames, they are very important. The position shown to the right is the final position in the famous queen endgame from the game <ref>[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032347 Botvinnik vs. Minev]</ref> between [[Mikhail Botvinnik]] and [[Nikolay Minev]], Amsterdam Olympiad, 1954. In the position shown, after '''91. Kc5!!''', Black [[List of chess terms#Resign|resigned]] because the promising looking checks 91...Qc7+, 91...Qg1+, 91...Qf2+ and 91...Qc2+ are answered by the cross-checks 92.Qc6+, 92.Qd4+, 92.Qd4+ and 92.Qc4+ respectively, forcing an exchange of queens in all cases, which will result in the [[promotion (chess)|promotion]] of the [[Pawn (chess)|pawn]] and winning the game by a basic [[checkmate]]. This is an important theme in queen endgames: the weaker side often gives a series of checks, and it is frequently important for them to avoid simplifying cross-checks such as these in reply {{Harvcol|Burgess|2000|pp=102–3, 458–59}}, {{Harvcol|Golombek|1977}}. If the black queen attacks the pawn instead of checking it does no good since the promotion square of the pawn is protected by its queen. Note too that if Black instead merely allows the pawn's promotion, another cross-check may be necessary to win, as in the next section.
{{clear left}}