Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Anastasia's Mate

The primary purpose of this blog is to allow you to test your skills in applying Anastasia's Mate, not just trapping the King but putting an end to His Majesty. The puzzles range from very easy to...well, it took a very strong player to see this over the board. The puzzles are provided after some brief discussion of some typical configurations of pieces that constitute an example of Anastasia's Mate. You can skip the discussion and go directly to the puzzles by scrolling past the picture further below.

The name “Anastasia’s Mate” apparently derives from the novel “Anastasia und das Schachspiel” (Anastasia and the Game of Chess) by Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse. Heinse used a chess position in his novel that was first described by Giambattista Lolli, who is recognized as the father of the Lolli mate! So, the position was recognized by Lolli, but immortalized as Anastasia's Mate by whoever decided to name the mating pattern after the heroine of Heinse's novel.

Below I offer some diagrams showing typical features of the Anastasia's Mate...though I prefer to term it Anastasia's Configuration. My reasoning being that the mere threat of an Anastasia's Mate may be sufficient to compel significant concessions from the opponent. Perhaps even concessions sufficient to state that the game is effectively over from a technical perspective. The very last game entry in this blog is an illustrative game that points to the value of realizing a mate threat can be almost as powerful as an actual mate! On the other hand, Black did draw when White missed the winning continuation after winning Black's Queen for a pair of Rooks. Proof positive that 15-year-old Bobby Fischer still had a few things to polish in his game as he allowed victory to slip away, turning a good game into a draw.

Diagrams of some typical Anastasia Mates

Gamman - Blackburne, Joseph Henry, London, 1869
White just played Qe1?? Time to end this game.

Schlosser, Michael - Becking, Franz Josef, St Ingbert open, 1988
Black just blundered with ...Rxc2?? Time to put this game to bed.

Gheorghiu, Florin - Liu, Wenzhe, Olympiad-25, 1982.11.04
White was winning. But decided to capture the pawn on f5 to remove a defender of the Knight on g4. What was wrong with White's plan?

Bayer, Conrad - Falkbeer, Ernst Karl, Wien, 1852
White just captured a tasty Rook on a8. How did Black show them the error of their ways.

Previati, Marco - Gaido, Paolo, Bologna, 1991
Black just played ...Nxe4 threatening ...Qxg3+ followed by ...Qf2#. What should White do to avoid disaster?

Hoejgaard, Samson - Royset, Pal,  Tromsoe Septem-A, 1997.09
Black just played ...Be7?? Show why Black resigned after White's next move.

Anderssen, Adolf - Zukertort, Johannes Hermann, Breslau Casual Games, 1865.07
Black just played 33...Qc7 to defend the b6 Square. How did White respond?

Kavalek, Lubomir - Khodos, German L, WchT Students 12th final A, 1965.08.01
Black just played ...hxg6. A good move in a rotten position. How did White continue?

Spassky, Boris Vasilievich - Kortschnoj, Viktor Lvovich, Candidates f Spassky-Kortschnoj +4-1=5, 1968.09.19
Very difficult first couple moves. Good luck with this one.

Fischer, Robert James - Saidy, Anthony Fred, Log Cabin 50/50, 1957.03.31 Illustrative Game
As stated earlier, the primary purpose of this illustrative game is to demonstrate that the mere threat of Damiano's Mate can extract significant concessions from the opponent. We open at the critical moment when Black, under pressure, misses a critical intermezzo that would have kept them in the game.

2. Inaccurate play can ruin a winning position.