[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Any capture of White s Queen would be met by Rxe8+ followed byback-rank mate.After White s fifth move, the e4-Rook is immune(5 & Rxe4 6 Qxc8+ Qe8 7 Qxe8+ Rxe8 8 Rxe8 mate).Finally theBlack Queen has nowhere to hide and must be lost.Recognizing thehopelessness of playing on without his Queen Black conceded thegame.(Recent research has cast doubt upon the authenticity of thisgame, but it is still a beautiful combination, real or invented.)3 elementary tactics 57The next example features a neat defeat of a World Champion.(ii)87654321a b c d e f g hFrom the game Karpov Taimanov, Leningrad 1977, the finishwith Black to play was:1 & Ng3+! and White resigned.2 Qxg3 Rxb1 leaves him no real chance, while 2 hxg3 Ra8! leavesno defence against 3 & Rh8 mate.Not a back-rank but a side-edge mate.Smothered mate87654321a b c d e f g h58 brilliant chessThis mate by the Knight is usually known by the picturesqueterm smothered mate.The Black King is smothered to death byhis own pieces denying him any escape from a Knight check.As wehave seen, one s own pieces getting in the way can often be a causeof problems.Even in the basic Rook mate on the back-rank, there isan element of self-smothering by the Black Pawns.The shortest possible game ending in checkmate also features aKing surrounded by his own pieces.Known as fool s mate it is over intwo moves: 1 f3 e5 2 g4 Qh4 mate.Note that the Queen does not evenavail herself of the ability to move like a Rook, this is a pure Bishop mate.Smothered mate with a Knight, though a comparatively rare finishto a game, is one of the best chessboard illustrations of the triumph ofquality over quantity.Note two possible variations in this smotheredmate position: the Rook on g8 could equally well be a Knight; or wecould give mate with the Knight also on g6, provided we have a WhiteRook added on h1, pinning the Black h-Pawn to prevent captureof the Knight.The two examples below both illustrate a commoncombinational idea which leads to a victory by smothered mate.(i)87654321a b c d e f g hWhite wins as follows:1 Qc4+ Kh82 Nf7+ Kg83 Nh6+ Kh84 Qg8+! Rxg85 Nf7 mate.3 elementary tactics 59Note that Black s King cannot flee to f8 on the first orthird moves of this sequence, owing to immediate mateby Qf7.This combination is known as Philidor s Legacy after the greatFrench player (and operatic composer) François Andre DanicanPhilidor (1726 95).The idea, however, dates back still further tothe Spaniard Luis de Lucena in 1497 and subsequently the ItalianGioachino Greco in 1625.Three hundred years after Greco, the smothered mate was stilleffective in the game Stolberg Zak, USSR 1938:(ii)87654321a b c d e f g h1 Rd7! Bxd72 Qxf7+ Kh83 Bc4! Ng64 Qg8+! Rxg85 Nf7 mate.White s opening move disrupted communications betweenc7 and f7.His third move threatened Qg8 mate and also set up themechanism for the smothered mate.Mating with QueenThe simplest checkmate of all is given by a protected Queensitting directly in front of a King on the edge of the board.60 brilliant chess87654321a b c d e f g hA Queen giving check in such a position will always end thegame at once, provided she cannot be captured.A very commonvariation to this checkmate position is seen by placing the WhiteQueen and Knight one square to the right.With that modification,the King has an escape square on f8, but the position becomescheckmate if f8 is occupied by a Black Rook, Bishop or Queen.Themost frequently seen of all short beginners games ends in justsuch a mate.Known as scholar s mate it runs: 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Bc53 Qh5 Nc6?? 4 Qxf7 mate.On his third move, Black saw the attackon e5 and defended the Pawn with his Knight, overlooking the farmore deadly threat to f7.By playing either 3 & Qe7 or 3 & Qf6both threats could satisfactorily have been defended and White sQueen later attacked and driven away from her threatening post.Note that in all these Queen mate positions, it does notmatter which piece defends the Queen: Knight, Bishop, Pawn oreven King, the Queen herself covers all the possible flight squares ofthe enemy King, and the only function of the defender is to prohibitBlack s capture of Queen with King.The next position is from a game Betbeder Tiroler, played in1930
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]