Moving a piece to a square protected by 5 opponent's pieces

Question

At the 5th round of the 2022 FIDE World Team Championship, in the game between Ivanchuk and Van Foreest, White played the following winning move:

[FEN "1n1q2k1/2r1rp1p/pp1b1np1/3pN3/3P4/BP4PB/P1R2P1P/2R2QK1 w - - 10 26"]
[White "Ivanchuk"]
[Black "Van Foreest"]

1. Nd7!

placing his knight to a square that is protected by 5 black pieces (the two rooks and knights and the queen).

Has this (perhaps with more attacking pieces) ever occurred again in a FIDE-rated game between two GMs?

Answer 1

Thanks to this CQL query:

cql(input Mega_Database_2022.pgn)

flipcolor {
    square x in [KNBRQ] attackedby a {
        move previous to x from [KNBRQ]
        not move previous capture a

        not check
        sort a attacks x >= 5
    }
}

I found some quite interesting examples:

7 attackers:

[Event "Moscow-ch 65th"]
[White "Naumkin, Igor"]
[Black "Smagin, Sergey"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2445"]
[BlackElo "2505"]
[FEN ""]
[StartPly "49"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Nh4 Bg4 10. f3 Bh5 11. g4 Nd5 12. Ng2 Bg6 13. Na2 Bd6 14. e4 Ne7 15. Nc3 h5 16. g5 h4 17. f4 Qa5 18. Ne3 O-O-O 19. Be2 Nb6 20. Bd2 Bxf4 21. Rxf4 Rxd4 22. Qc1 Rhd8 23. Be1 Qxg5+ 24. Rg4 Qc5 25. Ncd5 Qxc1 26. Nxe7+ Kd7 27. Rxc1 Bh5 28. Rxg7 Bxe2 29. Ng8 Kc8 30. Bxh4 Rf8 31. a5 Nd7 32. Rc2 Bb5 33. Nf6 Nxf6 34. Bxf6 Rxe4 35. Rg3 Ra4 36. h4 Rxa5 37. h5 Ra1+ 38. Kh2 Bd3 39. Rcg2 Ra4 40. Rg4 Ra5 41. Rh4 Rb5 42. h6 Rb3 43. Nc4 Bh7 44. Rg7 Bg6 45. Rxg6 fxg6 46. h7 b5 47. h8=Q Rxh8 48. Rxh8+ Kc7 49. Be5+ Kd7 50. Rh7+ Ke8 51. Nd6+ 1-0

---

[FEN ""]
[Event "Nikaia op 19th"]
[White "Anastasopoulos, Spyros"]
[Black "Kotrotsos, Vasilios"]
[Site "Nikaia"]
[Round "3"]
[Annotator ""]
[Result "0-1"]
[Date "2011.08.27"]
[WhiteElo "2177"]
[BlackElo "2332"]
[StartPly "42"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Qe2 O-O 6. h3 Nc6 7. O-O Nd7 8. c3 e5 9. Bg5 Qe8 10. Na3 a6 11. Nc2 Nb6 12. Bb3 Na5 13. dxe5 Nxb3 14. axb3 dxe5 15. Be3 Nd7 16. Qc4 c6 17. Rad1 Qe7 18. Rd2 Re8 19. Rfd1 Nf8 20. Rd6 Ne6 21. Bb6 Nd4 22. cxd4 Qxd6 23. Ne3 Be6 24. Qa4 exd4 25. e5 Qe7 26. Qxd4 Bxb3 27. Rd3 Bd5 28. Nxd5 cxd5 29. Qxd5 Qe6 30. Qa5 Rac8 31. Re3 Rc1+ 32. Kh2 Rd1 33. Qa4 Qd7 34. Qh4 h6 35. Bd4 Qd5 36. Bc3 b5 37. Qf4 Rd3 38. Re1 Re6 39. h4 Rd1 40. Re3 Qc4 41. Re4 Qd5 42. Re3 Re8 43. h5 g5 44. Nxg5 hxg5 45. Qxg5 Qd8 46. Qg4 Kh7 47. h6 Bxh6 48. Qf5+ Kg8 49. Rg3+ Kh8 50. Qh5 Re6 51. Qxf7 Qe8 52. Qf5 Rd7 53. Rh3 Rh7 54. f4 Qf7 55. Qxf7 Rxf7 56. g3 Kg7 57. Kg2 Kg6 58. Kf3 b4 59. Bxb4 Rxe5 60. Bc3 Rb5 0-1

---

6 attackers:

[Event "Odorheiu Secuiesc zt"]
[White "Dumitrache, Dragos Nicolae"]
[Black "Mrva, Martin"]
[Site "Odorheiu Secuiesc"]
[Round "8"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2530"]
[BlackElo "2400"]
[FEN ""]
[StartPly "42"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Bd3 O-O 6. Nge2 e5 7. d5 a5 8. a3 Nbd7 9. O-O c6 10. b3 Nc5 11. Bc2 b5 12. cxb5 cxd5 13. exd5 Bb7 14. Rb1 Rc8 15. b4 axb4 16. Rxb4 Qa5 17. Bb2 Qa8 18. f3 Bxd5 19. Ng3 Bb7 20. Qxd6 Rfd8 21. Qxe5 Nfe4 22. Qxg7+ Kxg7 23. Ncxe4+ Kf8 24. Nf6 Rd6 25. Re1 Re6 26. Rxe6 Nxe6 27. Ra4 Rxc2 28. Rxa8+ Bxa8 29. Nxh7+ Ke7 30. Bf6+ Kd7 31. Nf1 Re2 32. Ng3 Ra2 33. Be5 Nc5 34. h4 Nd3 35. Bd4 Nf4 36. Bf2 Rxa3 37. Ne4 Ra1+ 38. Kh2 Ra2 39. Kg3 Nh5+ 40. Kh2 Bxe4 0-1

---

5 attackers:

[Event "Groningen op"]
[White "Zak, Uriel"]
[Black "Schmittdiel, Eckhard"]
[Site "Groningen"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2370"]
[BlackElo "2495"]
[StartPly "34"]
[FEN ""]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4 Nf6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. Na3 O-O 9. Nc2 a6 10. Be3 Ng4 11. Bf4 b5 12. dxc5 Qxc5 13. Nfd4 Nge5 14. Be3 Rd8 15. Qc1 Qd5 16. Rd1 Bb7 17. Nxb5 Nd4! 0-1

---

[Event "UKR-ch sf op"]
[White "Kobylkin, Evgeni"]
[Black "Kislinsky, Alexey"]
[Site "Alushta"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2412"]
[StartPly "49"]
[FEN ""]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. g3 Be6 6. Nbd2 Qd7 7. Bg2 O-O-O 8. O-O Bh3 9. Bxh3 Qxh3 10. Ne4 f6 11. exf6 gxf6 12. Bf4 h5 13. Nh4 Bh6 14. Ng6 Rh7 15. Qd3 Rg7 16. Bxh6 Nxh6 17. Nf4 Qf5 18. Nd5 Ne5 19. Qxd4 c6 20. Qxa7 cxd5 21. Nc5 Nc6 22. Qa8+ Nb8 23. cxd5 Qxd5 24. e4 Qc6 25. Nd7 Rgxd7 26. Rac1 Ng4 27. Rxc6+ bxc6 28. a4 Ne5 29. b4 Rg7 30. b5 h4 31. b6 h3 32. f4 Nc4 33. Rc1 Rd4 34. a5 Rgd7 35. a6 Rd1+ 36. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 37. Kf2 Rd2+ 38. Kf3 Rd3+ 39. Kg4 Rd7 40. a7 Rg7+ 41. Kh5 1-0

---

Short explanation of the query:

• Find positions where at least one square occupied by a white piece (not a pawn) is attacked by Black and:
  • that white piece recently occupied the square,
  • without capturing a black piece,
  • without checking the black king.
  • where at least 5 black pieces attack that square. Sort by the amount of the attackers.

flipcolor repeats the search with colors interchanged.