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4-2 vs 3-3 Pawn Structure 8 games, 1909-2007 Checkmate: Checkmate Patterns Based on the book "The Big Book of Chess" by Eric Schiller, here are the checkmates that I found on pages 88-98. Back Rank Mate: A rook moves to the back rank, while the king is trapped by the pawns. click for larger view Anastasia's Mate: A rook moves to check the king, while the knight covers escape squares. click for larger view Anderssen's Mate: A rook moves to the back rank corner, protected by a pawn, which is in turn defended by the king. click for larger view Arabian Mate: A rook, protected by the knight, moves to check a king in the corner. click for larger view Blackburne's Mate: One bishop gives check, protected by a knight that covers one flight square, while the other bishop covers the other escape squares. click for larger view Boden's Mate: One bishop moves to check the black king, which is hemmed in by its own pieces and cannot flee because of white's other bishop. click for larger view Damiano's Mate: The queen gives checkmate, protected by the pawn. click for larger view Knight Corner Mate: Use the knight to give check, while the rook stands guard on the file, and the pawn prevents the king from moving forward. click for larger view Cozio's Mate: The queen delivers the checkmate, attacking the enemy king while the queen is guarded by its own king. click for larger view Damiano Bishop Mate: The queen goes directly in front of the king, guarded by the bishop. click for larger view David and Goliath Mate: A mere pawn checkmates the king, protected by the other pawn. Black's own pieces prevent its escape. click for larger view Double Bishop Mate: The bishop moves to atttack the king along the long diagonal. click for larger view Dovetail Mate: The queen checks the king, protected by the pawn. click for larger view Epaulette Mate: Move the queen two squares in front of the enemy king, whose flanking rooks prevent any escape. click for larger view Greco's Mate: The queen goes to the right edge of the board. The king's escape is cut off by the other bishop. click for larger view Hook Mate: The rook slides over to the e-file so that it attacks the king. The knight protects it, and the pawn cuts off the remaning flight square. click for larger view Corner Mate: The rook moves to the corner, protected by the bishop. click for larger view Legal's Mate: The knight moves into a position to check the king. The bishop is guarded by the other knight, and the enemy pieces block the king's escape. click for larger view Lolli's Mate: The pawn can guard the queen on the checkmating square. click for larger view Max Lange's Mate: The queen moves to checking position next to the king, defended by its bishop. click for larger view Minor Piece Mate: White gives check with the bishop, and the knight covers the king's escape squares. click for larger view Morphy's Mate: The bishop gives check on the long diagonal. The rook and pawn insure that the king cannot escape. click for larger view Reti's Mate: THe bishop goes to the edge of the board, giving check while guarded by the rook. click for larger view Opera Mate: The rook checkmates on the back rank; it has the bishop as a protector. click for larger view Pillsbury's Mate: The rook moves over to the g-file to give check to the king, who can't get to the the corner because of the bishop. click for larger view Queen and Pawn Mate: The pawn acts as a guardian to protect the queen as it checkmates the king. click for larger view Smothered Mate: The king is surrounded by its own forces, but cannot escape from the knight check. click for larger view Note: I have disallowed smothered mates in this collection because I already have a collection: Game Collection: Checkmate: Smothered. Suffocation Mate: The knight checks at e7, and the bishop covers the escape squares. click for larger view Swallow-Tail Mate: The queen takes up a position directly in front of the king, defended by the bishop. click for larger view Corridor's Mate: The queen delivers the checkmate on the edge of the board. A rook would do the job just as well. click for larger view Mighty Queen Mate: The queen moves to the back rank, and checkmates all by itself, since the pawn blocks the king's escape. click for larger view In order by mate listed, original mate, then date. 52 games, 1475-2013 King and Pawn Endgames Includes: King and Pawn vs. King King and Two Pawns vs. King King and Two Pawns vs. King and Pawn King and Three Pawns vs. King and Two Pawns 32 games, 1783-2002 Positional Chess Handbook I Games from "Positional Chess Handbook (Israel Gelfer)" This inexpensive book contains many more examples and is worth getting. 141 games, 1896-1986 Vukovic Mate Examples Vladimir Vukovic showed an essential and particular kind of Knight and Rook checkmate pattern in his book, THE ART OF ATTACK IN CHESS, Chapter 4: Mating Patterns, under "Typical Mates without Enemy Pieces," pages 66-67. It was not labelled with a name there, but several chess writers honor IM Vukovic by naming this pattern after him. This position would result from the moves given in the text by IM Vukovic: click for larger view (The White King is placed at a random position; IM Vukovic didn't include it in his initial diagram, which was the starting point for the Arabian Mate and this mate.) This kind of Rook and Knight mate is not an Arabian Mate. Further, the name Arabian Mate should not be applied to the Hook Mate. I have compiled a game collection on the Hook Mate as well: Game Collection: Hook Mate Examples. There should be a formal, technical name for this mating position, but "Vukovic Mate" is more colorful and easier to remember for the Royal Guards Chess Club members, so I prefer to use this moniker. Similarly, I prefer Pandolfini's use of "Rook Roll" rather than the more mundane and yet proper Double Rook Mate. (My younger club members irrepressibly smile when I use a giant chess set with a tablecloth "board" and then watch me literally roll it up as the mating net proceeds!) This kind of checkmate intrigues me, so I chose to start a collection of games for studying it. Of course, the games are most likely to need continuations to see the Vukovic Mate, since modern players resign when the game is nearly lost. The games are listed in chronological order, oldest first. However, the Saravanan vs Sasikiran game (which IS included in this collection) is the archetype for most Internet citations (without being identified). Continuation in that game gives us this diagram: click for larger view The Vukovic Mate may be expressed in several forms, although in every case, the "victimized" King, friendly Rook and friendly Knight are contiguous and in a straight line, with the Rook directly against the opposing King. Someone needs to protect the Rook, then. A Pawn, Bishop, Queen or King could be its protector, as well as a distant Rook or a second Knight in certain cases. Further, there may be two or more protectors for the Rook (i.e., the Spassky - Larsen 1968 continuation has both the friendly King and a Pawn aiding him). Here is its diagram: click for larger view For brevity, the header for each game will indicate the color and type of the protector for the Rook ("multi" for two or more of them) to eliminate the need to say Knight and Rook and their colors. Further, the game actually ended with the Vukovic Mate, unless "Continuation" is given. At one point, I thought that the earliest Vukovic Mate was Moeller - Jonsson, Gothenburg 1901, 38 moves, 1-0, which is not in this website's database. However, the Staunton - Williams game of 1851 far precedes it. Of course, there could still be a predecessor out there. This is a work in progress, so I'd appreciate your suggestions for additional games and other information about this checkmate pattern. All the best to all, always. 31 games, 1851-2013