14/11/2013 Chess Lesson 2 Basic Mates

As we know, the fundamental goal of chess is to put our opponent into checkmate. If we do not
know how to do this, we are obviously at a loss. Here we shall be exploring some of the basic
checkmates seen in chess. Knowing how these work and recognising the patterns are obviously
more important than knowing the names. One of the best ways to improve your play is by
learning common patterns that appear time and time again in chess. Recognising these small
patterns not only help in the end game, when the position may be more obvious, but after
practice, can be applied to very complicated mid-game positions as well. For beginners, these
positions will likely only be noticed at the very late stages of a game, where most pieces are
removed from the board already.
Back Rank Mate
Did your opponent castle and not leave any breathing
room for his king? Whilst this is usually a viable
means of keeping your king safe, as the three pawns in
front of the king act as a very effective barrier, it does
make the old man vulnerable to the classic back rank
mate, illustrated to the left. The pawns that act as a
barrier against incoming foes now prevents whites
king from escaping blacks rook.

Checkmate with Two Major Pieces (Rook & Queen or Two Rooks)
A lone king is easily checkmated by any two major
pieces. One piece prevents it from moving away from
the edge of the board, the other dominates the rank the
king occupies.
a) Use one piece to cut the king off along the rank
of file away from the edge of the board.
b) Use the other rook to check and force the king
back.
c) When you get the enemy king to the edge of
the board, deliver checkmate by bringing the
second rook down on the final rank.

Checkmate with One Major Piece

Okay, here is where your king gets off his lazy, royal
posterior. The concept is more or less the same,
however. Use your king to block off the enemy kings
potential escape route and then push your rook (or
queen) down one rank to deliver check and force the
queen downward and thus closer to the edge of the
board, where checkmate can be delivered as illustrated.
Like in most end-game checkmates, start by forcing
the king back (to the edge of the board), and create a
box around the enemy king to set up a checkmate
position. A queen can also deliver checkmate by being
one square directly away from the enemy king and
protected (in the diagram, replace the rook with a black
queen on e2).
Smothered Mate (or Philidors Mate)
Often times, a player puts his/her king in a
superficially safe location, as he is fully surrounded by
his own pieces. However, this allows Smothered Mate.
Recall that knights are the only pieces to be able to
ignore other pieces during movement. When a king has
nowhere to move, put a knight right outside his
position and deliver checkmate.

*** For a challenge, try to deliver checkmate with two bishops. You will need the help of your
king, and to drive the enemy king to a corner, not just an edge, of the board.

Thats really it! Next week shall have a slow introduction to tactical shots (pins, forks,
discovered attacks, etc.)

Some Basic Mate-In-One Puzzles

Draw an arrow or write down the algebraic notation for your move to solve the following puzzles by delivering
checkmate in a single move. White to move in every instance.