Figure 5.1.1.8[White to move]

The cluster of pieces on the left side of the board might seem hard to untangle; the two rooks that attack each other on the fifth rank both are protected by pawns, so what can be done with them? Meanwhile White’s knight is under attack by a pawn, and presumably must flee to White’s half of the board since all the squares it can reach on Black’s side are guarded. But this line of thinking would be all wrong. Holding the initiative is important. Think offense before defense. It's really simple: White wants to play RxR; it doesn't work because of the pawn on c6; so first he takes out the pawn with Nxc6+. After Black recaptures with NxN, White plays RxR and has won a rook and a pawn for a knight.

Notice again the power of the check. Everything here depends on the fact that Nxc6 is an attack on Black’s king and thus keeps Black busy for a move. If it were not—if Black’s king were on, say, e8—then Nxc6 is met by Black with RxR. After White recaptures d4xR, Black has NxN and ends up winning a piece for a pawn. When you're trying to make a capture and the pieces involved are making symmetrical attacks (queen against queen, or rook against rook), you always have to consider the possibility that the other side will try to play QxQ (or, here, RxR) before you do.