Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Lawnmower Mate

The primary purpose of this blog is to allow you to test your skills in applying the Lawnmower 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 Lawnmower 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 Lawnmower Mate in which the king is checked, perhaps mated, by two major pieces, usually a pair of rooks...do I need to mention that it's easier if a queen is one of the major pieces .

Note that I prefer the term Lawnmower Configuration. My reasoning being that the mere threat of a Lawnmower 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 that will point to the value of realizing a mate threat can be almost as powerful as an actual mate! 

Diagrams of some typical Lawnmower Mates
This mate has its name from the fact that the king is gradually forced to the edge of the board, one file/rank at a time, just like mowing the lawn one strip at a time. Once the king reaches an edge beyond which he cannot pass, then mate is delivered by a major piece along that edge. 

Diagram 1.
To expedite the process, I present an extreme example that eliminates all extraneous issues. And leverages the fact the queen is behind the rook to protect it as the pair moves down the board. If the queen had started on the g-file and the rook on the h-file it would have taken a bit longer to deliver mate.

Next, we take the time to consider some common sacrificial themes that support a lawnmower mating attack.

Diagram 2 and 3.
Right-hand side: The white queen sacrifices herself on h7 to open the h-file. After the king captures on h7 either rook can deliver mate.

Left-hand side: The black queen lures White's queen away from defense of the a-file by delivering check on c3. White must capture, otherwise Black will deliver mate with ...Qb2# on the next move. Then either rook can deliver mate along the a-file.

Diagram 3.
Now we consider another common theme that supports a lawnmower mating attack. Here the White bishop (not the queen please!) captures on h7 in order to open the e-file for the rook. That capture opens the e-file and now the tower can deliver a resounding thump on e8.

Let the Puzzles Begin!

Pepping, Simon - Schott, Reimund(2086) Oberliga Baden 0203, 2003.03.09

White just played the unfortunate 35.Bb2. Instead, 35.Rxf5 would have left a balanced position.

If you read the notes, it is quite clear Black entered some warped kind of zen state, mindlessly mowing over the same spots again and again. Perhaps some dandelion was poking its head above the blades of grass. And Black felt compelled to mow closer and closer to the surface in an attempt to eradicate an offensive weed. Despite the fact a mate was available initially. As you discovered.

Hernandez Velazquez, Benito - Alfageme Alvarez, Miguel, Valladolid San Mateo op 05th, 1987.09.27

White resigned at this point in the game. Giving the lie to the notion that a help-mate had been intended. And denying the audience the rare pleasure of seeing mate delivered on the board.

Borge, Nikolaj - Thuesen, Mogens, DEN-chB 1988

Black just retreated the king to a8 in response to White's rook delivering check from b5. Instead, 33...Kc6 would have maintained the balance. How did White obtain a winning advantage.

Clearly Black had experienced too close a cut previously. And chose the wiser path of throwing a sacrificial lamb in the path before the lawnmower's engines could give full throat. But the lawn gods were not sated. And Black soon tendered a humbled resignation.

Lessons learned: The threat of a lawnmower mate was sufficient to compel material concessions, an Exchange, that led to an easy victory for White.
Bjerre, Jonas (2624) - Felgaer, Ruben (2572) Julius Baer Play In, chess.com, 2023.07.24

Black had a central pawn mass as partial compensation for being a rook down. But rapid chess increases error rates and Black just blundered with 28...Ng4. Time to sharpen those mower blades.

A juicy mate. And I learned a new word!

Guido, Flavio (2346) - Lacour, Serge (2126) Lyon Rhone op, 2003.04.29

White just played 30.Rd7, attacking Black's queen and increasing pressure on the f7 square.

How did Black salvage something out of this position?

Lessons learned: A spectacular queen sacrifice on g3 to close a file!! White was forced to capture on g3. As a result, their king lost access to the g-file and escape up that file when Black's rooks penetrated on the first two ranks.

What should White have played instead of 30.Rd7??, as seen in the actual game from the prior puzzle.

Lessons learned or revisited: Even winning positions often require great care. On their 30th move, White was just one correct move from an absolutely decisive advantage. And instead suffered an immediate and crushing defeat.
Lotfy, Abdel - Dunphy, William, Olympiad-12 Final C 1956.09.10

Black just captured the pawn on h6. Oops. Taking down the umbrella behind which Black's king sheltered proved to be a game ending event.

Lessons learned: Often it is necessary to sacrifice material, whether a minor piece or the queen herself, in order to open files that allow the lawnmowers to operate at maximum horsepower.
Volkov, Sergey (2623) - Rasulov, Vugar (2526) EU-ch 13th, 2012.03.28

How did White finish this off.

Lessons learned or revisited: When the rooks can't achieve sufficient physical separation from the enemy king it is necessary to have another piece that can protect one of the rooks at a critical moment or moments. The knight performed admirably in that role here.
Kotsuba, Aleksander (2237) - Domnin, Sergiy(2073) UKR-ch sf op 2001

Black just played 23...f5 to prevent White from placing a Rook on g4.

How did White continue?

Lessons learned: Often it is necessary to sacrifice material, whether a minor piece or the queen herself, in order to open files that allow the lawnmowers to operate at maximum horsepower. Here the mightiest piece on the board cut short her existence to take down the enemy sovereign.
Antal, Gergely (2492) - Chernyshov, Konstantin (2518) Budapest FS08 GM 2002.08.13

Black was probably in time trouble and overlooked a threat. Their last move was 34...g2 preparing to promote with check. Unfortunately...

Patience is not its own reward. Victory is the reward for patience.
Georgiev, Kiril (2677) - Vescovi, Giovanni (2622) Olympiad-37, 2006.05.24

63.Nxe4+ was played in the game. Can you improve on White's move.

Vocaturo, Daniele (2500) - Genocchio, Daniele (2464) ITA-ch 69th, 2009.11.24

Black had a dominating position until move 36. Then achieved a losing position by the time they reached the first time control at move forty.

Now Black finished themselves off with 44...d2?? Sure, it threatens to capture the rook on e1 and make a queen. But in their panic, they must have been playing hope chess.

How did White punish Black?

A glorious demonstration of the power of queen sacrifices, knight mobility, discovered checks, double checks, and pins. Resulting in an unstoppable lawnmower's trim in the black king's own backyard.

Mekhitarian, Kriko (2528) - Ding, Liren (2628) Moscow Aeroflot op-A 10th, 2011.02.11

White just played 33.Qc3, a game-ending move if Black sees the brilliant refutation.

It all begins with a beautifully subtle move. Then White helped things along. At least, for the observant. 

Kobalia, Mihail (2648) - Van Wely, Loek (2677) Arctic Chess Challenge 2010.08.08

Black saw no easy solution to White's threat to capture the knight on f6 and so moved the knight from f6 to d7. That added an additional blockader to the passer on d5 but removed a defender from Black's kingside. What thematic attacking plan did White employ to punish Black's defensive faux pas.

If you found that easy you are probably rated well over 3000 when solving chess.com puzzles.

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"