Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Triangle Mate

The primary purpose of this blog is to allow you to test your skills in applying the triangle 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 triangle mate. You can skip the discussion and scroll past the next two pictures to "Let the Puzzles Begin!" 

Note that I prefer the term triangle configuration. My reasoning is that the mere threat of a triangle configuration may be sufficient to compel significant concessions from the opponent. Perhaps sufficient concessions to state that the game is effectively over from a technical perspective. 

Diagram of a Typical Triangle Mate 
The diagram below depicts two examples of a triangle mate. The defining characteristics are that the queen delivers mate and the queen, rook, and king form an isosceles triangle, with an empty square between the queen and rook. The king cannot retreat from the fatal gaze of the medusa-like queen because he is trapped by the side of the board or one of his own pieces. In the lower-left corner below you will see that the king is prevented from further flight by the rook on b3. Any white piece, except a knight, would have served black's purposes, foiling further flight.
The triangle mate is very similar to a kill box mate.

Sometimes the triangle mate is preceded via a railroad maneuver. That is a scenario wherein a queen and rook, separated by one file or rank, chase the enemy king down the file or rank between them culminating in a triangle mate.

Let the puzzles begin!
Morphy, Paul - Richardson, Horace, Morphy, Odds Nb1, New York 1859
Paul Morphy was the best chess player in the world at one time, but his last meaningful chess game was in 1859 at the age of 22. A good reason that he was considered "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess". There are still recorded simul games and odds games until 1869, such as this game in which he removed his b1 knight to start the game.

Horace Richardson lost four games while receiving odds from Paul Morphy. And then lost twice to James Mason in the 1873 New York tournament.

Morphy started the game with a missing b1-knight and is now down a full bishop pair. The good news is that Black's king is dreadfully exposed, and Black's queenside pieces are still parked at home.

Lessons learned or revisited:
A. King safety is paramount and can overwhelm mere material calculations. I feel obligated to refer folks to Analyze with KIMPLODES! K = King Safety.
B. Despite having a light-squared bishop, Black actually suffered from fatal light-square weaknesses on the kingside. Black's queen and dark-squared bishop were both unable to influence those squares. The latter because the dark-squared bishop rides the wrong color. The former because she is cut off from the kingside.

Haik, Aldo (2390) - Benjamin, Joel (2545) Cannes open, 1989
Aldo Haik is a French IM born in 1952 who won the French Chess Championship in 1972 and 1983. He ended his professional playing career in the early 1990s. His peak standard rating was 2475 in 1986.

Joel Benjamin is an American GM and three-time U.S. Champion. Born in 1964 he achieved his peak rating of 2620 in 1993, and in July of 1987 was ranked #29 in the world. He appeared in the movies Searching for Bobby Fischer and Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine. The latter was about Garry's match that he lost to IBM's Deep Blue in 1997.

White is up a ton of material, but White's King is exposed to the elemental forces facing him. Black must create a mating net or find a perpetual to avoid losing to all those white pawns.

Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Again, king safety outweighed material calculations.
B. It was vital for Black's queen to sidestep to e4 in order to open the f-file for Black's rook to penetrate the heart and soul of White's position.
C. Note the semi-traitorous role of the white pawn on h3 preventing the king from staying alive for one more move. Staying Alive is also the name of one of the Bee Gee's big hits from the Saturday Night Fever movie soundtrack.

Jinova, Lucie - Liskova, B., CZE-ch U10 Girls, 1993
Lucie Jinova was born in 1983 and achieved a peak standard rating of 1969. She played under the Czech Republic Federation. Her peak FIDE blitz rating was 2177, achieved in January 2014.

B. Liskova scored a quite respectable 7W-1D-4L in this tournament. That was the only tournament record I found for her.

White is obviously winning here, purely on a material count. But the finish fits nicely into our topic of interest.

Michalis Papadakis was born in 1984 and plays under the Greek Federation. His peak rating was 2266 in December 2015.

Rui Damaso is a Portuguese IM born in 1968. His peak standard rating since 2003 was 2463 in July 2006. He is currently ranked #1355 in the world.

The f2 and f7 squares are often the key to victory. White stumbled multiple times to reach this unfortunate position and Black is clearly about to extract their pound of flesh. What is Black's best path forward? (There is an equally good solution, but the move Black chose allowed White to blunder the game immediately.)

Trois, Francisco (2395) - Bademian Orchanian, Jose (2235), Piriapolis 1997
Francisco Trois was a Brazilian IM and IA. He won the South American Chess Championship in 1978.

Jose Bademian Orchanian was a Uruguayan FM, though born in Armenia. He won the Uruguayan Chess Championship in 1976. His peak rating of 2300 was reached in July 1988.

Black's defenders are stretched to the breaking point. What blow did White strike to eviscerate Black's position?

Lessons learned or revisited: 
A. Overloaded defenders, the black rook in this instance, often foretell doom.
B. Opposite color bishops often support devastating attacks, while the defending side finds itself essentially missing a piece. Here we saw that Black's bishop had zero influence in determining the outcome.

Dus Chotimirsky, Fedor Ivanovich - Kotov, Alexander, URS-ch11 Semifinal 1938.05.27
Fedor Dus Chotimirsky was a Russian Empire and Soviet Ukrainian chess master born in 1881. He was strong enough to beat both Rubinstein and Emanuel Lasker when those two immortals took first in the 1909 St. Petersburg tournament. He was awarded the IM title in 1950 based on prior achievements.

Alexander Kotov was a renowned Soviet GM and chess author. Born in 1913, I know him best from his classic book, Think Like a Grandmaster. One of his most fantastic results was winning the 1952 Saltsjöbaden Interzonal, three points clear of the second-place finishers Tigran Petrosian and Mark Taimanov.

White is down an entire Bishop. That suggests dire action is required to prove adequate compensation.

Lessons learned or revisited: 
A. Material is often irrelevant when a king hunt is in progress. You can read more about analyzing material tradeoffs at Analyze with KIMPLODES! M = Material.
B. In this example White deflected or destroyed the pawns on f7, g7, and h7. The usually hearty defenders of his majesty's keep were all removed from their posts. The entire purpose being to open the h7 square for invasion by White's queen.

Findlay, David John (2240) - McRorie, A., London Mini active1-A, 1994
David Findlay is a Scottish player born in 1954. He reached his peak standard rating of 2245 in 1987.

A. McRorie showed up almost 100 times in ChessBase records but apparently never played a FIDE rated game. Then again, neither have I!

Clearly Black thought the dual threats of mate on h2 and capturing on e6 would compel a queen trade. Black forgot something.

Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Black forgot that checks take precedence over threats. White could safely ignore Black's "threat" to deliver mate on h2.
B. Once again, we see a king falter and fail after the fall of his usual friendly curtain of pawns.

Djurhuus, Rune (2478) - Flaata, Alexander, NOR-chT 9900, 1999
Rune Djurhuus, born in 1970, is a Norwegian GM. He achieved his peak FIDE rating of 2530 in January 1997. His peak ICCF rating was 2584 in July 1996. Notably, he was the European Junior Champion in 1991, ahead of Vladimir Kramnik!

Alexander Flaata, born in 1976, is a Norwegian FM. His peak standard rating since 2003 was 2138 in October 2018.

White is up a rook but Black probably harbored hopes of ...Kg7 and ...Rh8. How did White quickly move on to the next round.

Assaubayeva, Bibissara (2381) - Bodnaruk, Anastasia (2428) Wch Rapid (Women) 2017.12.28
Bibissara Assaubayeva was born in 2004. She is a Kazakh chess player who played for the Russian Federation for a number of years. She holds the titles of WGM and IM.  Most famously, she won the women's World Blitz Chess Championship in both 2021 and 2022, the youngest female to ever win the title. Her peak standard rating of 2481 was reached in April of this year. Infamously, she was the target of accusations by GM Evgeniy Solozhenkin...for which he was punished by both the FIDE Ethics Commission and the Moscow Appellate Court.

Anastasia Bodnaruk was born in 1992. She is a Russian chess player who holds the titles of WGM and IM. She won the women's World Rapid Chess Championship in 2023 with 8W-6D-1L. Her peak standard rating of 2479 was reached in June 2016. Her peak rapid rating of 2487 was reached in September 2016.

The bell tolls for Black. ☠️

Lessons learned or revisited: White simply had more attackers on the kingside than Black had defenders. Throw in a shattered pawn shield and Black could not survive.

Savchenko, Boris (2633) - Gunina, Valentina (2518) Eurasia Blitz Chess Cup 2016.06.19
Boris Savchenko is a Russian GM born in 1986. His peak rating of 2655 was reached in April 2009. In January of that same year he reached his highest world ranking, slotting in at #71. His current rating has dipped to 2475, placing him #851 in the world.

Valentina Gunina is a Russian GM. She has won the women's World Blitz Chess Championship twice (2012 and 2023), and has won the Russian Women's Championship five times

Can you find the move Black missed in this blitz game?

Lessons learned or revisited: Note the traitorous f-pawn that blocks the king's retreat. That traitor also prevented the white queen from defending along the second rank.

Hong, Jiarong (2372) - Zhang, Xuan (2275) All China Games 4th, 2010.05.20
Jiarong Hong is a Chinese chess player. Born in 1986 he has no FIDE title but achieved a peak rating of 2372 in January 2009. That rating has been unchanged since then, meaning they have played no additional FIDE rated games. Chess.com lists him as retired.

Zhang Xuan is a Chinese chess player. Born in 1986 he has no FIDE title but achieved a peak rating of 2343 in September 2019. Chess.com lists him as retired.

Black's king should certainly be sweating bullets. But it appears Black is about to win at least an exchange because of the pin along the c7-g3 diagonal. How did White demonstrate that Black's ship could not be righted?

Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Note at the end that Black has no defensive wall along the second rank.
B. If a pair of hogs on the 7th are powerful, we can observe here that a hog paired with her majesty is nearly omnipotent.
C. Black's defenders were overloaded in multiple instances.

Monin, Nikolay (2410) - Polyakov, Dmitriy (2160) RUS-Cup01 Chigorin Memorial 1997.11.08
Nikolay Monin is a Russian IM born in 1947. Since 2003 his peak standard rating was 2403. Chess.com lists him as retired, but his FIDE rating chart indicates he still plays the occasional standard, rapid and blitz games.

Dmitriy Polyakov is a Russian player born in 1979. Since 2003 his standard rating has been frozen at 2200, indicating he played no FIDE rated games. He has occasionally played FIDE rated blitz games, but infrequently. His last blitz games were in October 2022.

Black's king has indulged himself with a walkabout. How does White demonstrate that Black will not find self-fulfillment on this wayward journey?

Lessons learned or revisited: 
A. Kings in the center always merit an attacker's attention. A king that appears to be playing king of the hill even more so. With his majesty parked on d6 there were too many ways for the king to step into a sinkhole.
B. A typical exchange sacrifice on c6 to remove a key defender.

Maier, Christian (2354) - Banusz, Tamas (2580) EU-ch rapid 2012.12.15
Christian Maier is a German IM born in 1959. His peak rating since 2003 was 2405 in March 2016. He still plays blitz, rapid, and standard time controls though his ratings have declined over the last five years.

Tamas Banusz is a Hungarian GM born in 1989. His peak rating was 2641 in January 2018. He is currently rated 2623 placing him at #130 in the world rankings.

Black threatens mate in one. How should White respond?

Lessons learned or revisited:
A. Although White's rook never moved it played a critical role by preventing Black's king from fleeing to the 7th rank or the queenside where there was more room.
B. Had this been a standard time control instead of rapid, I have no doubt Black would have found the more efficient mate.

Kehl, Reinhard - Krzemien, Roman, IBCA blind Olympiad 02nd, 1964.03.30
Reinhard Kehl is a German player born in 1937. He has played in numerous events for the blind over the decades. The peak rating I found for him in ChessBase was 1860, but FIDE records indicate his peak rating was 1969 until the recent FIDE ratings adjustment which bumped his rating all of 12 rating points, to 1981.

Roman Krzemien only appears in this single tournament in the ChessBase DB. In eight games he scored a quite respectable 4W-2D-2L.

White's pieces are swirling dangerously around the black king. Can you find the winning sequence that was seen in the game?

Lessons learned or revisited: 
A. Exchange sacrifices on f3, f6, c3, and c6 are often necessary precursors to ending the reign of the enemy sovereign. Think of it as eliminating a particularly wily defender.
B. White had five pieces ready to participate in the attack as needed. Black only had three pieces defending as the e7-bishop cut off the black queen.

Davies, Nigel (2510) - Dive, Russell (2315) Wrexham 1994
Nigel Davies is a Welsh GM born in 1960. He achieved his peak rating of 2530 in January 1995. He has published a number of books, including The Chess Player's Battle Manual, The Power Chess Program, and seven books on various openings. Apparently, he is a registered Tai Chi instructor.

Russell Dive is a New Zealand IM born in 1966. He has outright or jointly won the New Zealand Chess Championship seven times. His peak rating of 2448 was achieved in July 1999.

Black just captured a loose bishop on h5. How should white address the material deficit on the board?

Lessons learned or revisited:  
A. Black's three pieces huddled in the far corner of the queenside offered no value to their majesty in his death throes.
B. White had such a large attackers-to-defenders advantage that material sacrifices were not only possible, but necessary.

Aronian, Levon (2784) - Kovalev, Vladislav (2546) Wch Rapid 2015.10.10
Levon Aronian is an Armenian-American GM born in 1982. His peak rating was 2830 in March 2014 when he was the second-best player in the world. His current rating is still a phenomenal 2729, placing him #22 in the world. He has secured world championship titles in Chess960, in 2006 and 2007, and in blitz chess in 2010.

Vladislav Kovalev is a Belarusian GM born in 1994 who currently plays under the FIDE flag. His peak rating was 2703 in February 2019 which placed him #40 in the world. He won the Belarusian Chess Championship in 2016. His current rating has slipped to 2559, a rating most of us can only dream about.

How should White react to Black's threat to capture the queen on f5?

Lessons learned or revisited: 
A. The light square weaknesses on Black's kingside and in the center were fatal.
B. Black's knight was a mere bystander, too far away to influence the important events on the kingside. Basically, the b2-pawn was poisonous, leaching Black's position of what is usually a stalwart defender.
C. A lovely demonstration as an alternative on move 32 that a different defense by Black could have resulted in a kill box mate. No surprise given that the two patterns share great similarities. 

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