Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Double Knights Mate

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

We begin with some diagrams showing some typical features of the Double Knights Mate in which the King is checked, perhaps mated, by two Knights. 

Note that I prefer the term Double Knights Configuration. My reasoning being that the mere threat of a Double Knights Configuration 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. There is at least one puzzle in this blog will point to the value of realizing a mate threat can be almost as powerful as an actual mate! 

Diagrams of some typical Double Knights Mates
This mate has its name from the fact that the king is mated by one knight while the other knight covers key flight squares.

Diagram 1. Note the role played by the Judas Iscariot's on e7, d7, c7 and c8. Traitors who block potential flight squares for the entombed majesty.

Let the Puzzles Begin!
Faqiry, Ramat (1984) - Mustafa, Wail (2104) Frankfurt-ch 2008.06.02
Ramat Faqiry was born in 1984 and is a member of the German Federation. He apparently achieved his peak standard rating of 2022 in July 2018. He does not participate regularly in FIDE rated events.

Wail Mustafa was born in 1955 and is a member of the German Federation. He apparently achieved his peak standard rating of 2104 in July 2005. He does not participate regularly in FIDE rated events.

White was already in a bad way. But 23.Ne1 offered Black some extra time to rest and relax before their next game.

Lessons learned or revisited: Sometimes bringing another defender into the zone merely ruins any possible exit strategies for the king under attack. The errant knight on e1 turned out to be a fifth columnist who unintentionally doomed the white king. At least the knight did not go so far as Ephialtes of Trachis, who actually showed the Persians a path that allowed them to bypass and surround the vastly outnumbered Greeks who had halted the Persians at Thermopylae. Some of you might have familiarity with this from the 1998 movie 300.
Ionov, Sergey (2527) - Yevseev, Denis (2550) St Petersburg-ch 78th, 2005.03.17
Sergey Ionov is a GM who plays for the Russian Federation. He was born in 1973 and his highest standard rating this century was 2592 in October 2003. He is now rated 2474 and has not played a FIDE-rated standard game since 2019. He is #1223 in the world.

Denis Yevseev is a GM who plays for the Russian Federation. He was born in 1962 and his highest standard rating this century was 2559 in May 2011. He is still rated over 2500 but has not played a FIDE-rated standard game since 2022. He is #870 in the world.

Black just played 29...Bc8 threatening the white rook. What did Black miss?

Outcome: Rating points for White.
Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Always check checks. Particularly if you are part of a large dinner party and asked for separate bills. Particularly if all you had was a club soda while your compatriots drank fine liqueurs and bubbly.
B. Always look to see if a gift horse just wandered into your area. Certainly, this made White's life easier.
Brujic, Bozidar (2240) - Acimovic, Svetozar (2370) Belgrade GMA op 1998
Bozidar Brujic is an FM in the Serbian Federation. He was born in 1947.

Svetozar Acimovic played for the Serbian Federation. He has no FIDE title despite a peak rating this century of 2354, lower than his highest rating in the 20th century.

White was apparently a Nimzowitsch acolyte and fully believed the c-pawn was ready to expand, playing 32.c6. But that expansion turned into a burst bubble, leaving White with gum all over their face and even tangled in their hair. Consequently, White resigned after Black's next two moves.

Lessons learned or revisited: The Double Knights Configuration was merely the precursor, a transition state, to a back-rank mate. This is quite common in mating attacks. The opponent may be able to react successfully to one threat only to succumb to a subsequent threat.
Vitzthum von Eckstaedt, Conrad - Pollmacher, Hermann, Leipzig Casual Games, 1855
Herman Pollmacher played a four-game casual match against the renowned Adolf Andersson in 1855. Anderssen won all four. From my quick glance it was clear those games were played in the very gallant style of that age. Defense? Pah, I spit on defense.

Black just played 20...b5 hitting White's queen. How should White respond to that threat?

Schelle, Artur (2125) - Hoy, Bernd (2180) Regionalliga SW 9900, 2000
Artur Schelle was born in 1960. He was an untitled played in the German Federation. In January 2004 he achieved the extremely respectable rating of 2274.

Bernd Hoy was born in 1975. He was an untitled played in the German Federation. In November 2014 he achieved the extremely respectable rating of 2291.

White clearly has a dominating position. But it's more than just dominating, it's immediately winning with the correct follow-up. White to quickly deliver mate!

Nilsson, Sebastian - Andersson, Fredrik (2273) SWE-ch U20, 2002.07.08
Sebastian Nilsson is a Swedish FM. Born in 1985 his peak standard ELO rating was 2362.

Fredrik Andersson is a Swedish FM. Born in 1983 his peak standard ELO rating was 2317.

Black just played 19...f6. How did White win quickly?

Lessons learned or revisited: Moving pawns in front of your king may lead to a fatal gap in the donjon, the inner stronghold where His Majesty takes refuge.
Dumpor, Atif (2301) - Kosic, Dragan (2508) Ajvatovica IM 2001.06.17
Atif Dumpor was an IM in the Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation, born in 1958. In this century his peak standard rating was 2425 in January 2010.

Dragab Kosic is a GM in the Montenegro Federation. Born in 1970 his peak rating was 2570. He is currently rated 2367.

White's King looks a bit forlorn in the corner. Black quickly planned a state funeral for the King on h1. How did Black execute to that plan?
Fair warning: There are several equivalent solutions. Tragically, there is no way to acknowledge your successes mid-puzzle. So, pat yourself on the back after you achieve success and then see that your other attempts were equally good. I do share your pain, rest assured. I've encountered any number of puzzles on the site that suffered from the same software shortfall.

Lessons learned or revisited: As stated in the initial diagrams of this blog, there are occasions when even a queen should offer herself up in order to achieve the desired end state of an ego-crushing victory.
Sarana, Alexey (2613) - Jakovenko, Dmitrij (2748) RUS-ch 71st, 2018.09.01
Alexey Sarana is a Russian-born GM playing for the Serbian Federation. Born in January 2000 he earned his IM title in 2016 and his GM title in 2018. He is currently ranked #35 in the world and his peak rating is 2703 as I am writing this.

Dmitrij Jakovenko is a RUssian GM born in 1983. He received his GM title in 2001 and his peak rating of 2760 was achieved in 2009, a year in which he rose as high as #5 in the world. He is currently rated 2682 and ranked 56th in the world.

Shevchenko, Kirill (2599) - Talu, Mircea (2386) Titled Tuesday 2020.12.01
Kirill Shevchenko was born in 2002 and is a GM currently representing the Romanian Federation. He earned his IM title in 2016 and the GM title in 2017 at the age of 14 years and 10 months. His peak FIDE rating was 2694 in June of 2023. He is currently #56 worldwide.

Mircea Talu was born in 2002 and is an FM representing the Romanian Federation. His peak standard rating was 2386, achieved in November 2020.

Blitz is a playground for blunders. And missed opportunities to punish those blunders.
But White did not miss their chance in this game. Do you see it?

Lessons learned or revisited: The key to success was removing the defender of the g6 square! Queens seem like small potatoes when the game is afoot to commit regicide against the enemy's sovereign.
Idle musings: It just occurred to me, as I look at the knights on my screen, how those bowed, knight necks share similarities with vultures perched on the desiccated branches of a gnarled and leafless dead tree. Overlooking the carrion on h8.
Loyd, Samuel - Rosenthal, Samuel, Paris Congres International, 1867.06.10
Samuel Loyd was an American chess player whom I first became aware of because of his chess compositions. According to chessmetrics.com he was #15 in the world at one time.

Samuel Rosenthal was a Polish-born French chess player. He was good enough to have claimed victories over all the leading players of his era, including Anderssen, Blackburne, Chigorin, Mackenzie, Mason, Paulsen, Steinitz and Zukertort.

The famous chess composer spots a nice configuration despite all the extra pieces on the board.

Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Attraction and deflection poke their noses in the tent...again! The key to this quick and dirty mate was realizing that control of the d7 square was the keystone that brought Black's game tumbling down.
B. Again, we note the traitorous role of one of the king's minions. The pawn on b7 is a porthole that cannot be opened in the time of His Majesty's need.
Navara, David (2706) - Svidler, Peter (2741) Prague Cez Trophy 2012.06.23
David Navara plays for the Czech Federation. Born in 1985 he achieved his GM title in 2002. His peak rating was 2751 in May 2015. He has had a who's who list of coaches such as Miloslav Vanka, IM Josef Přibyl, and GMs Luděk Pachman and Vlastimil Jansa. He is currently ranked #52 in the world and achieved his peak ranking of #13 in October 2006.

Peter Svidler is an incredibly popular player and commentator. A Russian GM and eight-time Russian champion whose peak rating was 2769 in May 2013. He is currently ranked #45 in the world. In January 2004 he achieved his peak ranking of #4.

White's King is stuck in the corner. But finding the winning path forward seems a bit complex for Black.

Lessons learned or revisited: Kings who lack flight squares, zero degrees of freedom so to speak, are prone to tachycardia followed by collapse. A complete collapse that finds all systems failing. The lights go out. Resuscitation is not an option.
Capon, CH. - Taylor, John, Norwich Walpole House 1873.09
CH. Capon was born in 1840. This was the only game of his that I found. He lost. That's quite the losing percentage.

John Odin Howard Taylor was born in 1837. He was a respectable enough player to make it into the ChessBase DB with multiple games, including a loss to Joseph Henry Blackburne in a blindfold simul held by Blackburne.

White couldn't bring themselves to play 15.gxf3 opening the g-file and creating an ugly display of a kingside pawn structure. Instead, White ventured 15.Kh1. But capturing on f3 was the only way to extend the game.
What blitzkrieg move did Black respond with?

Lessons learned or revisited: Attraction and deflection poke their noses in the tent...again! The key square in this instance was the f2 square. And the white rook was but a pawn in Black's machinations, drawn irresistibly into the traitor's role on g1 where it could no longer keep a wary eye on f2.
Idle musings: A quadruple Double Knights! An eloquent companion to our earlier quintuple. I have yet to find an octuple. Perhaps I need to review some Octomom materials. Wait a minute. Doesn't a quadruple double equal an octuple? SUCCESS!! With that thought, we'll take a last, furtive glance at this finish and move on quickly to the next puzzle.
Ziatdinov, Raset (2440) - Gurevich, Dmitry (2530) Bern op 1995
Raset Ziatdinov is an American GM. Born in 1958 he achieved his GM title at the relatively late age of 47. He was most recently in the new for his upset loss to ten-year-old Sathvik Adiga in 2022.

Born in 1956, Dmitry Gurevich emigrated to America in 1980 and earned his GM title three years later. He has won or tied for first four times in the U.S. Open. His peak rating was 2580 in 1997.

Black is better here but needs to find a somewhat surprising and very strong move to maintain that edge. Perhaps it was sheer shock but White quickly fell apart in the game and our theme came into play.  Then again, that should not be considered a surprise, since it is the theme of these puzzles. Not to mention the fact Black has two Knights seeking further employment.
So, the question is, "How do you start?"

Gerber, Klaus - Haag, Wolfgang (2335) Zuerich op1, 1994
I only found three games by Klaus Gerber, a German player. This was probably his greatest victory.

Wolfgang Haag is a German FM, achieving that title in 1995, the year after this loss. Born in 1963 he does not appear to have actively played at standard time controls since 2018.

A complex position. Find White's best moves...and respond to Black's blunders!

Thus, we close our chapter on the Double Knights mate. Hope you enjoyed this.

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

Bishop

Rook

King

Miscellaneous

Secrets of Trapping Pieces: A Beautiful Loss
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Said the Spider to the Fly
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: My Experience Writing a Chess Book