Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Double Bishops Mate

This is NOT a post about how to mate a king with your two bishops and king as the only material on the board. No, no, no! You can learn about that here, a chess.com lesson on that subject. 

Having established what this post is not, let's talk about what it is. In this blog your two bishops rule the roost with an assist from enemy forces! Your king usually need not get involved and can stay safely at home...somewhere. You won't care about his location in most of these puzzles unless both sides have regicide on their mind. The primary purpose of this blog is to allow you to test your skills in applying a double bishops mate, not just trapping the King but putting an end to his miserable existence with some kindly, if inadvertently traitorous, assistance from his pieces. In some instances, you will need to trick his pieces into serving in the traitor's role. The puzzles range from very easy to...well, it took a strong player to see this over the board. And in some cases, miss it! 

The puzzles are provided after a brief discussion of a typical configuration of pieces that comprise a double bishops mate. You can skip the discussion and go directly to the puzzles by scrolling past the picture below.

Note that I prefer the phrase double bishops configuration. Why? Because the mere threat of the double bishops configuration may be sufficient to compel significant concessions from the opponent. Concessions that may be sufficient to state that the game is effectively over. The problem Tijana Curic - Dimitrije Vujosevic is an example.

Diagram of a Typical Double Bishops Mate
The top diagram depicts a typical double bishops mate with the king crucified in the corner and the bishop duo given an able assist by the a7-pawn, a traitor in Black's backfield. The bottom diagram depicts another scenario where the "friendly" pieces closest to the king cannot intervene but do a disservice to their sovereign by cutting off his flight squares. A white pawn on f2 would have served equally well in the traitor's role but there is more to be learned from the observation that sometimes one pair of bishops is far better placed than the other set of bishops. Black's bishops are much better placed than White's in the second diagram. One can almost hear the black bishops hectoring their religious colleagues for their obvious futility.

Let the Puzzles Begin! Comments for each puzzle include some random insights and any alternatives I found interesting.
Siddik Oztas - Engin Sari (1446) Ankara Open 2020.02.16
Siddik Oztas is a Turkish chess player born in 2010. His peak rating was 1254 in September 2023. Until the recent rebaseline by FIDE, which raised his rating to 1552. Not a bad result for a single day.

Engin Sari is a Turkish chess player born in 1981. His peak rating was 1510 in July 2017. Until, like many others, he was granted a boon in March 2024 raising his ceiling to 1627. As of August 2024 that fell to 1616. Artificial boosts are rarely forever.  

It doesn't get much easier than this.

Doubled bishops and rooks, now that sends a thumping message!

Petar Krstic (2205) - Slobodan Ostojic (2071) Belgrade Trophy 19th 2006.11.27
Petar Krstic is a Serbian FM born in 1990 and currently ranked #4534 in the world, with a rating of 2280. His peak rating was 2358 in September 2007, but he currently sits at 2280. He is a chess coach and has one IM norm. He also has a law degree from the University of Belgrade.

Slobodan Ostojic is a Serbian chess player born in 1947. His peak rating was at the time of this game. His rating dropped below 2000 by September 2009, but recently rose from 1848 to 1909 thanks to the FIDE rating adjustments in March 2024.

The puzzle itself is not that difficult. But after you solve the problem, it is quite illuminating to examine all the bad moves played that led to the denouement.

Even winning positions can be lost with a single blunder. 

Efim Bogoljubow - Herbert Heinicke, GER-ch40 qual, 1951
Efim Bogoljubow was born in 1889 and had what we now consider a late start in chess. He learned the moves at age 15 and only developed a sincere interest at age 18. The winner of numerous tournaments (Berlin 1919, Stockholm 1919, Kiel 1921, Berlin 1926, Kissingen 1928, etc.) he won the Soviet CC in 1924 and 1925. Bogo played for the World CC twice against Alekhine, losing by large margins in 1929 and 1934.

Herbert Heinicke was a South American born in 1905 who moved to Hamburg. He was awarded the IM title in 1953. He earned an individual silver medal at the unofficial 1936 Munich Olympiad with a score of 8W-0L-10D.

Time to demonstrate you are at least as good a calculator as a World CC contender.

Cry me a river. And the treasonous pawn on h7 is no help at all.

George MacKenzie - Frederick Perrin, New York Casual Games 1866
George MacKenzie was born in 1837 and joined the military as an ensign when nineteen years old. In 1861 he sold his commission and retired. He took up chess while in the military and then dominated American chess from 1865 through 1880. He won thirteen straight American tournaments and six matches, with one drawn match. He then started receiving invitations to Europe where he won the Fifth German CC in 1887 and the fifth Scottish CC in 1888.

Frederick Perrin was an American chess master born in 1815. He played twice in the American Chess Congress and won the New York Chess Club tournament in 1859. This victory over MacKenzie took place a few weeks before Perrin's death from pneumonia.

White just played g2-g3. Time for you to polish off this tasty tidbit of a game.

White's g-pawn was filling a critical role providing defense of the f3 square and keeping the e4-h1 line closed. Advancing the pawn one square left the light squares entirely too weak.

Igor Lebloch (2185) - Tomas Dusik (2143) SVK-chT1E 0001, 2000
Igor Lebloch is a Slovakian chess player born in 1980. Based on ten games played in January, their peak rating of 2185 was achieved in 2000. Their rating had dropped to 2039 by July 2005, and I found no rated games after that.

Tomas Dusik is a Slovakian chess player born in 1979. By some strange coincidence, their peak rating was also 2185, the same as Lebloch's in this game. But Dusik achieved that in December 2006. By April 2018 his rating had slid slightly to 2156.

Black's pieces are better placed than their counterparts but how does Black maximize the coordination of their pieces?

The black rook played a critical role in enabling the black bishops and rendering White defenseless against the onslaught.

Vlada Mikenas - Nikolay Gusev, URS-ch25 qf1, 1957
Vlada Mikenas was a Lithuanian and Soviet IM who was awarded an Honorary GM title by FIDE. Born in 1910 he won the Estonian CC in 1931 and played Lithuania's first board at five official and one unofficial Chess Olympiads. In 1937 he won a game against Alekhine. During that game he missed a tactic, prompting Alekhine to grouse, "Young man, you could have mated in three!". To which Mikenas murmured, "Never mind. I will win it over again." He did. Mikenas was also the arbiter of the 1985 Karpov - Kasparov World CC match.

Nikolay Gusev was a Soviet master born in 1922. His most famous game was a positional queen sacrifice against Auerbach in 1946. Sam Copeland has a great YouTube video on this game. You can find a post about this game at https://www.chess.com/article/view/grandmaster-vs-game-review-gusev-queen-sacrifice including an analysis by GM Rafael Leitao.

White just played Rxf7. Looks logical...loses.

Black's pawns do a fabulous job restricting the white king's options. Meanwhile, we observe one of the usual suspects performing in the traitor's role. The white pawn on f4 prevents the king from fleeing to safer climes and times.

Igor Boss (1802) - Florian Armbrust (1828) DLM U20, 2002.07.30
Igor Boss is a German chess player born in 1988. His peak rating was 2128, achieved in September 2009. As of July 2019, his rating had declined to a still respectable 2118.

Florian Armbrust is a German FM born in 1988. His peak rating was 2326, reached in October 2008. His current rating is 2282.  

There are three winning moves for Black here. I'll give you one for free. 20...Rd7+ wins but was not played in the game, so don't waste your time trying it here. The best move was also not played. So be prepared for some mild frustration if you tried the best move and are told it is "wrong."

Lessons learned or revisited:
A. A lack of development and an unsafe king contribute to many a defeat.
B. Material considerations are irrelevant if the enemy king can be mated.
C. As the alternatives and notes highlight, finding the best move can be quite convoluted. And in many instances, as seen here, using the KISS Principle to find a more than sufficient move is the most efficient way to play.

Tijana Curic (1500) - Dimitrije Vujosevic (1964) Belgrade Trophy 21st, 2008.12.01
Tijana Curic is a Serbian player born in 1995. She plays rarely as her most recent game was in 2008. But her rating jumped over 200 points on 1 March 2024...thanks to FIDE changing the rating tables. I doubt that she noticed.

Dimitrije Vujosevic is a Serbian player born in 1932. Intriguingly, the first rated game I could find for him was in 2003 in the Belgrade Spring open at the age of 71. He achieved a rating of 2142! By March 2017 that had declined to a 1760 FIDE rating. He also benefited from the recent FIDE adjustment to ratings and is rated 1856 as of 1 March 2024. It's doubtful that he cares, in my opinion.

Here is our example of the double bishops configuration extracting winning concessions from the opponent.

Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Uncastled kings can find themselves vulnerable to mating attacks even with reduced forces on the board.
B. The reach of the bishops across the board can be a force to behold. Combine that with powerfully placed rooks and victory is almost a foregone conclusion.

Diana Martinez Villar - Francisco J. Esquivias Gomez (2069) Pablo Gorbea Memorial 6th, 2002.09.16
Diana Martinez Villar appears to exist in the ChessBase DB solely because of this victory. There is a Josep Martinez Villar whose peak FIDE rating was 2198 in 2004. Relatives?

Francisco J. Esquivias Gomez is a Spanish player whose FIDE rating peaked in the same month this game was played. They are currently rated 1989, the beneficiary of an 8-point bump when FIDE adjusted ratings in March 2024.

One of the seven deadly sins, seen here in action, is greed! Perhaps Black sniffed disdainfully at their opponent's unrated status and believed they could win any old way. Neglecting to take into consideration that their king is stalemated and their kingside undeveloped.

How did White take advantage of Black's lack of awareness?

Lessons learned or revisited:  
A. Greed kills.
B. Another king who overestimated his strength standing alone and trapped in the center.

Danilo Canda (2315) - Joaquin Diaz, Managua 1984
Danilo Canda is a Nicaraguan IM born in 1961. His peak rating was 2360 in 1986. In December 2021 his rating had fallen to 2261. That still places him in the top 12,000 players in the world.

Joaquin Diaz is a retired German chess player born in 1964. His peak rating was 2176, a level he achieved in April 2012 as he approached age fifty!

White found a move that bamboozled their opponent. Can you? NOTE: On the last move of this puzzle there are multiple solutions. Choose the one that wins the most material.

I particularly like the point behind White's very quiet first move.

Igor Khmelnitsky (2485) - Lev Alburt (2560) USA-ch 1996
Igor Khmelnitsky is an American IM born in Ukraine in 1968. An actuary by profession (he calculates insurance risks and premiums), he has also written online chess books such as Chess Exam – Matches against Chess Legends: You vs. Bobby Fischer. His peak FIDE rating was 2495 and he is still rated 2454 with six games played in September 2024 as I wrote this.

Lev Alburt was a Russian GM, born in 1965, who became a three-time Ukrainian CC before defecting to the US in 1979. Since that time, he has won the US CC three times and the US Open three times. He is the author or co-author of multiple books, and the Alburt Variation in Alekhine's Defense is named after him (it involves a fianchetto of Black's bishop after 4...g6.) His peak rating of 2580 was reached in July 1981, and he is still rated 2539. His highest world ranking was #22 in January 1981.

Part of the problem with being under pressure is that it provokes misjudgments and mistakes. Black's king cover has been shredded and the white pieces are salivating over future opportunities to ruin the black king's reign. Suddenly, Black makes a mistake. And the walls continue to crumble.

When the castle walls crumble there is often only ruin and despair to be found.

Alexis Cabrera Pino (2440) - Duvan Castano (2165) Dos Hermanas op 3rd, 2002.04.09
Alexis Cabrera Pino is a Spanish GM born in 1976. His peak ELO was 2546 in May 2013. As of May 2024, his rating has fallen to 2409.

Duvan Castano is a Colombian chess player born in 1985. His peak rating was an impressive 2362 in September 2011, but he appears to have retired in October 2014 and never secured a title.

"The first step is the hardest in every journey of dreams." Attributed to Moffat Machingura. Or, if you prefer, "The First Step is the Hardest", a song by Judson Herd, released in 2016. NOTE: There are two solutions that deliver a double bishops mate. Pat yourself on the back if you found the alternative, even though the puzzle said you had played the "wrong move".

I particularly enjoy that every white piece, except the king, played an active part in this sequence. Even the a3-rook that proved to be a poisoned rook. A fact Black realized too late after gobbling down the "loose piece".

Related blogs: You can find an entire mini-universe of blogs about trapping various pieces at the links below. Or for the visually inclined you can just use your favorite search engine and ask to see images for "Secrets of Trapping Pieces". You'll either get pictures posted by animal trappers, I suspect mostly people who are not named Kristi Noem, or pictures posted by yours truly.
Knight

SUCCESS!! Publication of my "Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Fundamentals"