Mate in three

Exciting position from the game Evgeny Sveshnikov vs. Ruslan Scherbakov, 1991. White to move and mate in three.

1. Qg7+!! White sacks his queen to trap black's king in a mating net ... Kxg7 the only move. 2. Nf5++ The double check forces black's king to move and prevents him from escaping via h6 ... Kg8 the only move. 3. Nh6# or 3. Ne7#

Click to show/hide solution.

A satisfying win; a tactical shot

One of the most satisfying wins I've had in a while; not because of any amazing mating combination, but because I was able to positionally clamp down on black's position throughout the game.



[Event "rated blitz match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.05.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "waparker"]
[Black "Blogjam"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1168"]
[BlackElo "1129"]
[ECO "D10"]
[TimeControl "600"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 Be7 7. Bxc4 Nbd7 8.
O-O O-O 9. Rc1 b5 10. Bb3 b4 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Na4 Ba6 13. Re1 Qc7 14. e5 Be7
15. Nc5 Bxc5 16. dxc5 Bb5 17. Qc2 Rad8 18. Ng5 g6 19. f4 h6?
{Rybka 2.2 (score 4.22 at depth 13) thinks this is not a good move}
({Rybka 2.2 suggests:} 19. ... a5 20. Ne4 +/= {(score 0.61 at depth 10)} )

20. Ne4
{Rybka 2.2 (score 0.83 at depth 10) thinks a good move has been missed}
({Rybka 2.2 suggests:} 20. Nxe6 Bd3 21. Qxd3 Nxc5 22. Rxc5 fxe6 23. Qxg6+ Kh8
24. Qxh6+ Qh7 25. Qxh7+ Kxh7 26. Bxe6 Rxf4 +- {(score 4.22 at depth 13)} )

Kg7 21. Rcd1 Rfe8 22. Re3 Nf8 23. Nd6 Re7 24. Rg3 f6 25. exf6+ Kxf6 26. a4
Ba6 27. Qe4 Qd7?? {This offers a mate in 1 to the opponent}
({Rybka 2.2 suggests:} 27. ... Kg7 28. f5 g5 29. f6+ Kxf6 30. Qd4+ e5 31. Ne4+ {(score 3.28 at depth 10)} )

28. Qe5# {Blogjam checkmated} 1-0

From a different game, a tactical puzzle. Black to move and win material. White has just played Bh6.

1 ...f5! Black covers the g7 square with his Queen and simultaneously attacks White's queen, which must protect the rook on e2 as well as pin the g-pawn so that it cannot take the bishop on h6. If 2. Rxe8+ Rxe8 as was played in the game, 3. Qd1 must be played to prevent ...Re8#, losing the bishop. The best line for white is 2. Qh5 Rxe2 3. Qxe2 gxh6 4. Qe6+ Kg7 5. Qxf5 Bh2+ 6. Kh1 (6. Kf1 Qc4+ leads to mate)

Click to show/hide solution.

A fun Philidor's game

Here is a fun game I just played on the Free Internet Chess Server. If you copy-paste this as a PGN into your viewer you can read my comments as well as look at some variations.

[Event "rated blitz match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.05.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "waparker"]
[Black "pencsev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1171"]
[BlackElo "1048P"]
[ECO "C41"]
[TimeControl "300"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Bg4 5. Rg1 $5 {A cute little move to have some fun that I just came up with. If black takes the knight and opens the g-file, he will basically be forfeiting the right to castle on the kingside, and the development of his dark-square bishop might be difficult due to the pressure on g7. But it's definitely not a very sound idea.} Qf6 6. Qe3 (6. Qb4 Bxf3 7. gxf3 b6 8. Nc3 Qxf3 9. Nd5 Kd8 $16 {If black goes for pawn-grabbing, white will have a lead in development and threats on c7 to force the king to forfeit the right to castle.} ) Nc6 7. Nc3 a6 8. Bd2 (8. Nd5 Qd8 9. Qb3 Rb8 10. h3 Bd7 11. Bd3 ) O-O-O 9. O-O-O Nd4 10. Be2 (10. Nd5 Qg6 11. Qxd4 $18 {A simple tactic to win a piece. The queen can't stay on the diagonal to protect the knight.} ) Nxf3 11. gxf3 Be6 12. Kb1 (12. Qa7 b6 13. Qa8+ Kd7 14. Qxa6 g6 15. e5 Qf5 16. Bb5+ c6 17. Qb7+ $18 ) Kb8 13. Bd3 d5 {Black offers to open up lines when he is the player with poor development.} 14. exd5 Bxd5 15. Nxd5 Rxd5 16. Be4 Rb5 17. Bc3 Qb6 (17. ... Qe7 {A better alternative to the move played which immediately loses;} 18. Rd2 Rb6 19. Ba5 Rd6 20. Qb3 b6 21. Bb4 Qe5 22. Rgd1 Rxd2 23. Rxd2 Qg5 24. Qd3 $18 ) 18. Rd8+ Ka7 19. Qxb6+ (19. Rxf8 Qxe3 20. fxe3 c5 21. Rxg7 ) cxb6 20. Rgd1 (20. Rxf8 f5 21. Bd3 Rd5 22. Bxg7 ) Bc5 (20. ... Be7 21. R8d7 Kb8 22. Bxb7 Bf6 23. Bxa6 Rg5 24. f4 Rg6 {Rybka gives Rg1, sacking the rook to stop white's rook coordination. This more human-like move leads to checkmate.} 25. Be5+ Bxe5 26. Rb7+ Kc8 27. Rxf7+ Kb8 28. Rd8# ) 21. R1d7 a5 22. Rxb7+ Ka6 23. Ra8# {pencsev checkmated} 1-0

Quick link to latest chess video

Featuring three games: two from me, and one from Paul Morphy, the famous Opera Game.

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