There need be nothing mysterious about a position like this if you take it apart methodically, asking what enemy pieces you threaten and how they are defended. White’s rook on e1 attacks Black’s bishop, which is protected by his knight and rook. White’s rook on c1 attacks Black’s knight, which is protected by his rooks. See how these observations fit together? True, the bishop on e7 has two guards, and White only attacks one of them. But the guard you attack—the knight on c6—is protected by the bishop’s other guard, the rook on c7. So if you capture the knight with RxN, you kill two birds with one stone: Black’s only recapture is RxR, and now both guards of the Black bishop have been either captured or dislodged. (The rook on c7 was overworked, a theme we consider in detail in the next chapter.) White then plays RxB, winning a bishop and knight for a rook.