Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Arabian Mate

The primary purpose of this blog is to allow you to test your skills in applying the Arabian 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 the Arabian Mate. You can skip the discussion and go directly to the puzzles by scrolling past the picture further below.

The "Arabian Mate" was first mentioned in the 8th Century A.D. in an Arabic text on chess. It makes sense this particular pair was picked out at that point in time as the Rook and Knight were then the most powerful pieces on the board! This was before the Queen became the singularly powerful Amazon that She is now; that transformation to superhero status occurred in Spain in the 15th century during Queen Isabella's reign. And well before castling took on its present form in the 17th century.

We begin with a diagram showing some typical features of the Arabian Mate...though I prefer to term it the Arabian Configuration. My reasoning being that the mere threat of an Arabian 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.

Diagram of some typical Arabian Mates

Bottom right-hand corner and left-hand corner. Baseline cases. In each case the King is backed into the corner so there is no further flight allowed off the edge of the board. The Rook delivers mate and covers a flight square, g2 in the right-hand corner and b2 in the left-hand corner. The Knight protects the Rook and covers the flight square that is not covered by the Rook, g1 in the right-hand corner and a2 in the left-hand corner.

Top left-hand corner. Again, the King is located along the edge of the board. His Majesty's own pawn on a4 forms a virtual corner that prevents the King from fleeing to a4. A traitorous pawn indeed! The Rook provides the check that is mate and also takes away b6 and b4 as potential flight squares. The Knight protects the Rook and removes a6 as a potential flight square.

Top right-hand corner. Yes, the King is again in that unfortunate position along the edge. His Majesty's own Rook on f8 forms a virtual corner that prevents the King from fleeing to g8. Here we encounter a traitorous Rook, unable to give way in time to save Black's Sovereign. A Knight would have proved equally ineffective at changing the results f this encounter. The Rook provides the check that is mate and also takes away g7 and e7 as potential flight squares. The Knight protects the Rook and removes e8 as a potential flight square.

And so, let the puzzles begin!

Gold - Von Kochanowski, Ladislaus, Wien Cafe Central, 1887.07.24
Black just doubled Rooks on the g-file. Forgetting to focus on the immediate threat while hoping to tie down White's Rook on the g-file to prevent Black from playing ...Rxg2+.

De Firmian, Nick E - Pohl, Ira, San Francisco Golden Gate op, 1976

Sirigos, Nikolaos (2285) - Botsari, Anna Maria(2325), GRE-ch95, 1996

Ramesa, Davor (2321) - Colovic, Aleksandar (2493), EU-ch 9th, 2008.04.25

How does Black leverage our standard pattern of interest to reach a winning endgame.

Sjugirov, Sanan (2663) - Galperin, Platon (2474), Titled Tuesday, 2021.03.23

Even the best move would not have saved Black. But 31...Rc8 threw gasoline on the fire.

How did White take advantage of the invigorated blaze on the board?

Sulava, Nenad (2380) - Hadzovic, Izet (2305), Belgrade op, 1989

Black is about to create counterplay in the form of a passed pawn on the Queenside. How did White quell all Black's ambitions.

And that's all I wrote...well, except for a caption for the picture below followed by links to other blogs on traps for pieces.

Related blogs: You can find an entire series of blogs about trapping various pieces at: 
Knight