Checkmate !

Posted on March 8, 2008 in the water cooler
2 comments 

A snowy afternoon well spent !


This type of check-mate is called a Smothered Mate and is one of the prettiest in chess. A lone Knight, with help from the enemy forces, checkmates the King.

As you can see here, the black King is under attack and cannot move because it’s own rook and pawns are blocking the escape. The board was moved against a wall later to create more drama.

The Smothered Mate in Action

It might seem like and expert playing with a beginner, but it’s surprising how often this happens to a point that it’s even given a name ! Here’s how our game went:

That help brush up my animation skills.

For chess junkies out there, here’s the commentary:

Initial positions

Black: Kh8, Ra8, g7, h7
White:Qb3, Ng5

The moves
  • Ng5-f7 + Kh8-g8 - Knight checks the King moving from g5 to f7, King saves self by moving from h8 to g8
  • Nf7-h6 ++ Kg8-h8 - Knight moves to h6 putting the King in double check this time also from the white queen diagonally across at b3. King must move back to the corner at h8. (No point of the King moving to f8 as Queen would check the King on b4 anyway)
  • Qb3-g8 + Ra8xg8 - Instead of shuttling back and forth, white moves Queen next to the King. Since King cannot capture the queen as he would be in check by the Knight at h6, black is forced to play the Rook and capture the Queen.
  • Nh6-f7 Checkmate - Knight moves to f7 Checkmate.
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There are 2 comments to "Checkmate !"

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Frank N. Stein March 16th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

That would be a pretty embarrassing way to lose. While on the topic of chess. I would like to note that just 3 nights ago, for the first time ever, I managed to get one of my pawns to the opposite side of the board. Not sure what it’s called, something like promotion. Very proud!! Specially considering that I did it against a pretty good opponent.
Jaffer March 17th, 2008 at 5:38 pm

You should be proud Frank ! When you get your pawn to the other side of the board, you can promote your pawn to a Rook, Bishop, Knight and most popularly Queen.

You can have up-to nine Queens of your colour although that’s rare !

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