I have recently been experimenting with a bishop-queen attack on a kingside castle position along the b1-h7 diagonal. I've had quite a bit of success with it, against similar rated players who generally haven't seen the attack coming - which has surprised me.

My reason for posting is not to boast my checkmate, but rather to get some thoughts on the tactics of trying to place the queen in front of the bishop before the attack. It requires shifting the bishop into a corner, and I'm sure if I'd played someone stronger (my opponent was circa 1580) they may have been able to take advantage of it. 

Key moves in the position are 14. Bb1 and 15. Qc2, which the computer analysis calls innacuracies - but would really value more experienced players thoughts. Thanks!

Its good set up, but it relys on what your opponent may or may not do. When you pushed the knight to e5, blacks best move is b4 forcing your bishop off the a3 square. Black should then follow with Nf8 preventing the mate threat. The move should also be considered to prevent the knights capture of c6. The ideas are sound becuase of the mate threat. This forces a weakening of blacks position which can be exploited later in the game.

rduncalfe wrote:

"14. Bb1 !? Comments on this move please! On the face of it it reduces the options of the bishop and doesn't serve me much... I'm sure it could be taken advantage of, or at least my intentions should have been clear at this point. Anyone know of any games where a similar thought has been played out"

One of my game contains nearly similar thought: White use diagonal b1-h7 and black diagonal b8-h2. Situation is however a bit complex, but still it's this thought:

interesting game. 18. f4?! opens up the file for a rook attack on the queen, whcih considering your black bishop isn't going far at this stage, isn't a terrible idea - apart from the fact you can exchange and get an open diagonal!

I used to play games with this Bishop-Queen battery all the time about 10 years ago when I played almost exclusively 1 minute chess. Of course, in 1 minute chess you can make three moves Bc2-Qd3-e4 before your opponent realizes that you're threatening to play e5 driving the f6 knight away from the defense of the h7 square.

Unfortunately, in a game where your opponent gets to think, this plan is slow and easy to defend. Where this Q-B battery is useful is when black's only defense is to push the g-pawn to g6 to close the diagonal. This weakens the dark squares around the king -- allowing Bh6 or perhaps h4-h5.

I feel your comments are insightful.  Your 11 Bb4 did nothing and permitted a useful ...e5 for black anywheres from his 12th move on.  Your 14 Bb1 where you asked for comments is strong.  Even if black played better, not wasting his queen's bishop moves, not falling into your attack etc.  It serves to open the c file to your rook etc.  Bishops are often "stuck" on one strong diagonal, and it is a good one.

Black was simply myopically occupied with the queenside.