Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Back-Rank Mate
The primary purpose of this blog is to allow you to test your skills in applying the back-rank 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 very brief discussion of a typical configuration of pieces that constitute an example of the back-rank mate. You can skip the discussion and go directly to the puzzles by scrolling past the picture below.
Note that I prefer the term back-rank configuration. I reason that the mere threat of a back-rank configuration may be sufficient to compel significant concessions from the opponent. Several problems demonstrate how achieving a back-rank configuration can generate continuing concessions by the opponent that are sufficient to pave the path to victory!
Diagrams of a Typical Back Rank Configuration
A back-rank mate occurs when the opponent checks the opposing king on their back rank (the first rank for White and the eighth rank for Black) with a queen or rook and the defender cannot capture the attacker, block the attack, or flee. Usually, the king is prevented from flight by his foot soldiers, the pawns. Occasionally a piece prevents their sovereign from fleeing the mating zone.
Let the Puzzles Begin!
Liebenstein, Hermann - Fahrni, Hans, Kongress-13 Hauptturnier A, 1902.07.24
Hermann Liebenstein was born in 1970. He was good enough to be invited to play in the American National Manhattan CC in 1913. Where he lost to a who's who of great players: Capablanca; Janowski, Marshall, and Rubinstein.
Hans Fahrni was born in 1874 and was a Swiss chess master. In 1911 he was the first master to play 100 opponents simultaneously! In another curiosity he managed to tie Alekhine in a three-game 1908 match. They each won a game, and the third game was a draw. He also lost two very competitive matches to Rudolf Spielmann. From a chess writer's perspective, his greatest historical contribution may have been that he was the first to write a monograph on Alekhine's Defence!
White was winning until they decided to capture White's queen on g4 with their last move. Time for Black to celebrate snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
Lessons learned or revisited: Even won games can be lost by a single moment of oversight.
Von Heydebrand und der Lasa, Tassilo - Seligo, Berlin Casual Games, 1837.08.20
Baron von der Lasa was a German master born in 1818. He was strong enough to win matches against Adolf Anderssen, Johann Lowenthal, and Howard Staunton. Interestingly, he did not play in tournaments as he was too busy as an organizer. In his day he was considered a renowned chess theoretician with numerous articles and several books to his credit.
Seligo exists primarily in the ChessBase DB. In 1837 he played 25 casual games against this opponent, losing 24. The only other record I have of him is a game he lost to Adolf Anderssen in 1844 at the Breslau tournament.
If you puzzle rush, then you have seen this theme a thousand times!
Lessons learned or revisited: Practicing basic tactics pays off. A standard mating theme in three-minute and five-minute puzzle rush.
MacDonnell, George - Boden, Samuel, London international, 1869
George MacDonnell was an Anglican clergyman and chess master. A very strong master, he walloped George Mackenzie in two matches and shared 1st with Wilhelm Steinitz at Dublin 1865.
Samuel Boden was an English master. Boden's mate is named after him for a game played in 1853...even though the pattern had been seen in a game nine years earlier. I need this guy's press agent! Paul Morphy opined that Boden was the strongest English master of that time.
White's king certainly looks a bit uncomfortable but if the black rook rushes to g6 then White will gladly sacrifice the queen for the rook, gradually unwind the kingside, and the material advantage will eventually lead to victory. Do you see as clearly as Black did?
Lessons learned or revisited: White's pieces were easily overloaded. With one capture Black was able to stretch them beyond the breaking point.
La Flamme, Paul - Moore, Mark, Queen City op 20th, 1996
Paul La Flamme played in the Queen City open in 1996. And lost the three games I could find for him.
Mark Moore has a similarly difficult history to research. He played in this tournament, the Michigan open reserve in 1998, and the Southern California Open in 2002. There he notched his greatest defeat, to the best of my research. A loss in 52 moves to Melikset Khachiyan, rated 2477 at the time. He played quite reasonably for the first 21 moves. But that has nothing to do with this game. Still, his name is safe from being listed alongside one of the NNs who Greco played.
White seems to have the f2 square covered adequately with their dark-squared bishop. But there is a tactical trick that highlights a different problem in White's position. At least, if Black plays precisely for the next five moves.
Lessons learned or revisited: This was a real-game demonstration of play shown in the second diagram of generic back-rank configurations seen above. Through a series of checks and discovered checks Black was able to obscure the a1-rook's view of the critical f1 square.
"Your Majesty, we pawns won't tell her she isn't a queen. She already looks hangry."
Paulus, Jeffrey (2027) - Jellinghaus, Lars (2109) Oberliga NRW 1718, 2018.04.29
Jeffrey Paulus is a German Federation chess player born in 1990. He achieved his peak rating of 2027 the year this game was played.
Lars Jellinghaus is a German Federation chess player born in 1969 whose peak rating this century was 2255, achieved in March 2019.
Black just moved their bishop from b5 to e8. How did White take advantage?
Lessons learned or revisited: Two issues needed to be identified to solve this one. First, there was a potential back rank issue for Black with the king tucked in the corner without luft. Second, the queen was defending...everything! The overloaded queen's back broke when White increased the pressure by playing 32.Qc5!!
Larsen, Bent - Ljubojevic, Ljubomir, Milan, 1975.08.21
Bent Larsen was a Danish GM born in 1935. His peak rating of 2660 and peak ranking of #4 in the world were both achieved in 1971. An incredibly imaginative, even unorthodox, player he reached the semifinals of the Candidates four times, but never got to compete for the World Championship.
Ljubomir Ljubojevic was born in 1950 and achieved the GM title in 1971. His peak rating was 2645 in January 1983, and he reached #3 in the world that same year. For such a strong player it is unusual to note that he never qualified for the Candidates Tournament. My major impression of Ljubo was that you could always expect dynamic play.
White just played 26.Na7?? threatening several black pieces. How did Black demonstrate that this was a non-threat?
Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Create a greater threat! Black ignored the threat of 26.Na7 and focused on the greatest game, a king hunt.
B. Mate is worth a mere queen's sacrifice.
Garcia, Raimundo - Espinosa, Raul, RG-ch36, Buenos Aires 1958.06.06
Raimundo Garcia was an Argentine IM born in 1936. He was the Argentine champion in 1983. His peak standard rating this century was 2363 in April 2005.
Raul Espinosa was born in 1930 and several hundred of his games can be found in the ChessBase DB. He recorded one loss and one draw against the well-known GM Miguel Najdorf.
Both kings look open and the light squares around White's king look particularly troublesome. Fortunately for White, it is their move.
Lessons learned or revisited:
A. As White I always look for ways to take advantage of the c4-g8 diagonal if the f7 pawn is missing.
B. The opposite color bishops suggested that attacks on the color of those bishops were both a possibility and a concern for both players.
Smyslov, Vassily - Zagoriansky, Evgeny Moscow-ch24 1944/45, 1944
Vassily Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian GM born in 1921. He was the 7th World Chess Champion from 1957-58 after wresting the title from Botvinnik. Deservingly famous it is perhaps a lesser-known fact that he was an accomplished baritone singer.
Evgeny Zagoriansky was born in 1910 and played for the Soviet Union. A very accomplished player he defeated players such as Aronin, Bronstein, Flohr, Kotov, and Ragozin.
Can you find the mate that Smyslov overlooked?
Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Smyslov's move in the game complied with the keep it simple, Smith (KISS) Principle. But it was far from being the fastest finish.
B. Opening lines against a king stuck in a corner is often the precursor to a wonderful mating net.
Xu, Xiangyu (2545) - Kambrath, Yannick (2342) (rapid) PRO League Stage, chess.com 2018.01.31
Xiangyu Xu is a Chinese GM born in 1999. He recently reached his peak rating of 2636 placing him #109 in the world.
Yannick Kambrath is a French IM born in 1997. His peak rating of 2401 has been reached several times. He earned his FM title in 2013 and his IM title in 2018.
Black just captured a white rook on d8. Terrible idea but White has to execute correctly to prove that.
Lessons learned or revisited:
A. At faster time controls even IMs might forget about the dangers of a needlessly exposed back rank.
B. There are times when a pair of knights are better than a pair of bishops.
Haugli, Petter (2330) - Borge, Nikolaj (2180) Naestved op 1988
Petter Haugli is a Norwegian IM born in 1958. His peak FIDE standard rating was 2415.
Nikolaj Borge is a Danish IM born in 1971. His peak FIDE standard rating was 2466.
Black just played 30...Ng5, establishing some mating threats on e1 if the c-pawn advances. How did White respond to the threat?
Lessons learned or revisited:
A. White's patience was exemplary. The quiet move of 33.h3 to kick Black's knight was key to the combination.
B. Just because your opponent has a dangerous passed pawn, and some potential mating threats on your back rank, is not a reason to panic. Well, as long as you can create an equal or greater threat.
Remlinger, Larry (2340) - Manion, Josh, Philadelphia op 1992
Larry Remlinger is a USA IM born in 1941. His peak FIDE rating was 2465.
Josh Manionis is a USA IM born in 1976. His peak FIDE rating was 2465. He is listed as retired with no FIDE games for over 20 years.
Only one move maintains full objective equality for White. And that move puts considerable pressure on Black to respond precisely.
Lessons learned or revisited:
A. When placed under pressure the defense is likely to crack. Even if the position is objectively equal.
B. The idea that Black missed, 30...e6! opening the rank so the black queen could protect g7, is an important defensive resource. Defense with a major piece along the second or seventh ranks is a concept that White and Black, respectively, must understand. Whether attacking or defending.
Using a back-rank threat to extort material
Ganguly Surya (2650) - Deepan Chakkravarthy, J. (2526) IND-chT 38th, Bhubaneswar 2018.02.11
Surya Ganguly is an Indian GM born in 1983. He earned his IM title at age 16 and three years later became a GM. His peak FIDE rating of 2676 was reached in July 2016. His current rating is 2575 and he is ranked #141 in the world.
J. Deepan Chakkravarthy is also an Indian GM. Born in 1986 he achieved the GM title in 2006. His peak FIDE rating of 2557 was reached in May 2019. His current rating is 2423 and he is ranked #268 in the world.
Black's king has no air, tucked over there in the corner and surrounded by members of his staff.
Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Luft! If only Black had found time to create a pocket of air by advancing the h-pawn earlier in the game.
B. In a blitz game against a weak player with limited time left on their clock, I would have played on as Black.
Gunsberg, Isidor - Dickinson, William, London Rice Gambit, 1904.10.20
Isidor Gunsberg was a Hungarian master who may be best known for losing a match for the World Championship to Wilhelm Steinitz by the score of 10½ - 8½ in 1891.
William Dickinson only appears in the ChessBase DB for his play in the London Rice Gambit in 1904. Dickinson won five games and lost twelve in this tournament.
The Rice Gambit is an offshoot of the King's Gambit Accepted. "It is characterized by the moves 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. Bc4 d5 7. exd5 Bd6 8. 0-0 (instead of the normal 8.d4). White offers the sacrifice of the knight on e5 in order to get his king to safety and prepare a rook to join the attack against Black's underdeveloped position." (Wikipedia)
This puzzle...is not easy.
Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Luft! If only Black had found time to create a pocket of air by advancing the a-pawn earlier in the game.
B. Cultivating the habit of patience and the ability to calculate beyond two or three moves is vital to finding these solutions in an actual game. It's a bit easier in a puzzle. But I still found this one difficult.
Velcheva, Maria (2255) - Puuska, Heini (2016) EU-chT (Women) 16th, Heraklion, 2007.10.28
Maria Velcheva is a Bulgarian WGM. Born in 1976 she achieved her peak rating of 2364 in January 2000. She is a five-time winner of the Bulgarian Women's Chess Championship.
Heini Puuska is a WFM playing under the Finland Federation. Born in 1973 she achieved her peak rating of 2077 in 2002.
Objectively White is winning. But Black has developed an annoying initiative on the kingside. How does White dispel any notion that Black's initiative will lead anywhere?
A. Instructors and coaches will advise you that retreating moves are difficult to see, as we are primed psychologically to always go forward. If you accept that premise, then how much more difficult is it to play a retreating move that also involves a Queen sacrifice?
Related blogs: You can find an entire series of blogs about trapping various pieces at:
Knight
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Bishop, Knight and King
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Rook Part 1 of 2
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Rook Part 2 of 2
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Knight
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Pawns
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Pawns Part 2 of 5
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Pawns Part 3 of 5
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Pawns Part 4 of 5
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Pawns Part 5 of 5
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Rook + Pawn
