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Practice the Blind Swine Mate (and the Ladder Mate) here!
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Practice the Blind Swine Mate (and the Ladder Mate) here!

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Blind Swine Mate

Continuing on with our checkmating series, now we arrive at the Blind Swine Mate, another rook checkmate.

This checkmate is quite similar to the 'Ladder Mate' or 'Two Rooks Mate', except that this checkmate is usually only delivered when the opponent is careless, as it is easy to prevent it.

Above is the basic checkmate pattern of the Blind Swine Mate. This checkmate pattern is also called 'Pigs On The Seventh Rank Mate', because it is usually delivered by 'Pigs On the Seventh'. For those of you who don't know 'Pigs On The Seventh', the 'pigs' are a metaphor for the rooks, because when two rooks get on the same rank, they are quite unstoppable. And seventh means the seventh rank.

The Blind Swine Mate is delivered with two rooks, both on the same rank (usually 2nd or 7th rank), supporting each other while taking away all the opponent's king's squares. The reason why it is usually easily preventable, is that the Blind Swine Mate needs an opponent's piece next to the king (usually the rook), blocking the king from going across the board. As seen above, the Black Rook on f8 is standing in the way of the king, so that the king only has two squares on the 8th rank as escape squares, perfect for the two rooks, with one rook taking the escape square, and the other took delivering checkmate. This mate is usually a mate in 3, checking the king twice with one rook, adjusting the position of that rook for the second rook to come around and deliver checkmate.

Try the Blind Swine Mate below!

Ladder Mate

The Ladder Mate is also called the 'Two Rooks Mate', delivering checkmate with both rooks. This checkmate is very similar to Two Rooks and King VS. King endgame. In fact, the way of checkmating is the same! One rook checkmates the king by moving to the file/rank the king is on (the edge of the board), while the other rook takes away the rank/file next to the king, like the below position.

Puzzle Time! How fast can you solve the below puzzles?

Puzzle 1 (Difficulty: 1/5): Checkmate Black!

Puzzle 2 (Difficulty: 1.5/5): White can checkmate Black in 3 moves. How?
Puzzle 3 (Difficulty: 2/5): White is getting close to a checkmate here. But how can Black turn the tables and checkmate first with a queen advantage?
Puzzle 4 (Difficulty: 3.5/5): Let's look at a similar position. White is in the danger of being checkmated! But this time, it's White's turn. How can White also take advantage of his well-placed pieces and deliver checkmate in time before Black can checkmate White?

Puzzle 5 (Difficulty: 3/5): White is down a bishop, but he does have a checkmate opportunity! How can White defeat Black here?

Be careful of these two checkmates, especially in the endgame! Don't fall into the traps! Often, when you are careless, it is very easy to fall into the trap. Even if you don't fall into the Blind Swine Mate, you still need to be aware of the Ladder Mate.

Thank you for reading! And I hope you have learnt something through this blog! Have a nice day!