Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Vukovic's Mate

The primary purpose of this blog is to allow you to test your skills in applying Vukovic's mate, not just trapping the King but putting an end to his miserable existence. No assistance is needed from traitors in the enemy encampment, except to the extent that they fail in their duties to observe and prevent mate. In some instances, a series of quiet moves lull the opponent into a false sense of security. Only to find a trap has enveloped their king. 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 Vukovic's mate. You can skip the discussion and go directly to the puzzles by scrolling past the picture below.

Note that I prefer the phrase Vukovic's configuration. Why? Because the mere threat of Vukovic's configuration may be sufficient to compel significant concessions from the opponent. Concessions that may be sufficient to state that the game is effectively over.

Diagram of two typical Vukovic's mates
A mating pattern that occurs surprisingly often in endgames, perhaps because one side was oblivious to threats due to the limited remaining material. And it happens at all levels. I found over 50 examples in the ChessBase online DB within a matter of minutes.

The endpoint is straightforward. The path to get there can be quite elongated and winding. You'll see what I mean if you look at all the notes after solving the problems.

Let the Puzzles Begin!

Mustafa Yilmaz (2607) - Carolina Lujan (2330) Gibraltar Masters 18th Caleta, Gibraltar 21.01.2020
Mustafa Yilmaz, born 5 November 1992, is a Turkish GM. At the age of 17 he became the youngest Turkish CC ever. He has played in at least one Olympiad as part of the national team. His peak rating was 2665 in December 2023 placing him #66 in the world in January 2024. He is rated 2568 entering November 2024. He plays as @Chopper1905 on chess.com but plays somewhat irregularly.

Carolina Lujan, born May 13, 1985, is an Argentine IM and WGM. Her peak rating was 2419 in October 2006. A five-time Argentine Women’s CC, she has played board one of the Argentine women’s team in seven Olympiads. She can be found on chess.com as @CarolinaLujan but plays infrequently. The last appearance I found was 12 August 2024.

Black initiates an exchange that accelerates the victory.

Well, they say the first step is the hardest. Not so in this case! This should have been quite easy. Unless you were solving blindfolded and merely clicking randomly on the screen.

Velimir Ivic (2581) - Maximiliano Perez (2417), Titled Tuesday blitz, chess.com 01.12.2020
Velimir Ivic (Serbian Cyrillic: Велимир Ивић) was born 27 August 2002. This Serbian GM reached his peak active rating of 2622 in November 2024, narrowly eclipsing his prior peak of 2620 from two years prior…if he doesn’t drop any rating points by 30 Nov. At the 2024 CCT he defeated MVL 2-1 in round one and Caruana 2½ - 1½ in round two. He goes by @ DrVelja on chess.com.

Maximiliano Perez is an Argentine IM born in 1992. Currently ranked #2,464 in the world, his peak rating was 2451 in April 2019. His rating had declined to 2362 as of April 2024.

Black just moved their rook to threaten White's passed pawn. Well, they say you're supposed to create threats if you want to establish an initiative. Should White defend the poor bit that was so hopeful of a promotion? Look for a perpetual? Or more? (I'd suggest "more" is the correct answer.)

Black's king is pre-zombified and will rise from the dead only when the next game begins.

Emms, John (2400) - Hodgson, Julian (2540) BCF-ch 77th, Eastbourne, England 1990
John Emms, born 14 March 1967, is an English GM and chess author. He has one tie for first in the British CC. His contributions to chess libraries are numerous. I counted thirty books in his Wikipedia citations. He has written about a variety of openings, various piece endgames, and some very puzzling tomes to test the abilities of those looking for amazing moves! His peak rating of 2586 was reached in July 1999 and he is currently rated 2413.

Julian Hodgson, born 25 July 1963, is a British GM and a four-time British CC. In Olympiads he shared in the team bronze in 1990 and earned an individual silver in 1992. He achieved his peak rating of 2640 in July 2000 and is still a member of the 2600+ club, standing at 2609 in November 2024. He has not played competitive chess since 2003, instead teaching chess in schools. Interestingly, Hodgson was largely responsible for the revival of the Trompowsky, though he explained that it was because he was too lazy to learn established opening theory. He has written several major works including a book on the Sicilian Grand Prix and a series of books on the Trompowsky.

White just snatched a pawn, creating a double attack on knight and pawn that threatens to restore the material balance. But overlooking two principles. First, king safety is paramount. Second, loose pieces fall off.

Moves 31-34, which can be viewed after the puzzle is solved, were not conducive to constructing a simple puzzle. Too many plausible alternatives. But those moves offer a blueprint for typical victories via a Vukovic mate in the endgame, despite limited material.

Hikaru (3268) - Msb2 (3020) Bullet Brawl, chess.com 26.20.2024 
Hikaru Nakamura, born 9 December 1987, is an American GM, streamer, YouTuber, and more. His accomplishments include five US CCs, and he is the reigning Fischer Random World CC. He has finished as the runner-up to Magnus in two World Blitz CCs, plus two third-place finishes. Naka has twice placed third in the World Rapid CCs. His peak rating of 2816 places him at #10 all-time…and left him at #2 in October 2015 behind a certain GOAT. Hikaru was rated 2802 as November 2024 closed. In 2006 Naka helped the US team win the bronze medal in the Olympiad. Then he won the individual gold medal on board one in 2010, leading the US team to a silver. Probably chess.com’s most famous blitz and bullet player, he recently accomplished another never-before-seen feat, winning all three premier titled player events in a single week Bullet Brawl Nov. 16, 2024: Nakamura Secures Historic Bullet Brawl And Titled Tuesday Trifecta. He has provided content on https://www.youtube.com/@GMHikaru for some time, including some hilarious shared moments with GothamChess during PogChamps competitions. On X he goes by @GMHikaru. Most of his streaming now appears to take place at https://kick.com/gmhikaru. Though briefly caught up in one of the most recent chess controversies to roil the legal landscape, Hikaru may have found some solace in a decisive victory against a former legal adversary 2024 SCC: Nakamura Defeats Niemann By Double Digits In Consolation Match.

Matthias Blübaum is a German GM born 18 April 1997. His peak ELO was 2674 in August 2021, establishing him at #61 in the world. His FIDE blitz and rapid ratings also exceed 2600. He still maintains residency in the top 100 players at #71 with a rating of 2674 in November 2024. As of 2021 he was studying for a Masters in Math and unsure if the life of a chess professional was for him. He plays on chess.com as @Msb2 and regularly participates in Titled Tuesday events.

Black just pushed the pawn to h3, succumbing to the lure of the pawn's lust to expand. What refutation did Hikaru rip out?

King safety: It is possible to find thousands of similar endgame checkmates where king (or pawn) and knight support a rook delivering mate to a king trapped on the edge of the board. Frequently the losing side suffered a mental lapse regarding king safety.

Le Vui Nguyen - Minh Pham T Anh, Phu Dong festival U9 Girls 6th, 03.08.2004
The only factoids I have on these two is that they both played in this festival, and the following year Minh Pham T Anh participated in the Vietnamese CC U11 Girls. But the finish in this game is so fun I had to present it here. There are obviously many, many paths to victory here. But only one move paves the way for a Vukovic mate. Do you see it? And can you finish it off?

As stated in the initial description of this mating pattern, sometimes the opponent overlooks that their king has entered unsafe territory. Of course, this position was lost in any case. But it's pretty to observe this mate delivered this far up the board.

Mohamed Tissir (2368) - Diego Borrego Gil, Malaga Open 5th 23.02.2002
Mohamed Tissir (born November 27, 1976) is a Moroccan IM with a peak ELO of 2490 in October 2006 and a rating that has slipped to 2341 as of October 2024. He is a three-time Moroccan CC and won the African CC in 2009. He has participated in multiple Olympiads and won an individual gold in 2004. He can be found as @IM_Tissir on chess.com. A coach, he also plays bullet quite regularly on chess.com.

Diego Borrego Gil, born in 1972, is a Spanish chess player with a peak rating 0f 2201 in July 2004. His rating currently resides at 1922, as of July 2024. Most of his rated games in ChessBase were played in Malaga, Spain. He plays quite regularly on chess.com as @DirtyPerry.

Black needed to start returning material to stay in the game a few extra moves. Instead, they attempted to defend both their king and material.

Rooks that penetrate to the seventh rank (or second rank for Black) are generally evil omens if there is no immediate way to blunt their influence.

Konstantin Peyrer (2405) - Davit Shengelia (2510) AUT-CC Blitz, Graz, Austria 09.06.2023
Konstantin Peyrer is an Austrian IM born in 2003. His peak rating of 2447 was achieved in August 2023. November 2024 finds him at 2337, #1209 in the world (active players). You can find him on Instagram @konstantin_peyrer where he has 519 followers.

Davit (aka David/Dawit) Shengelia (aka Schengelia), (Georgian: დავით შენგელია; born 6 March 1980 in Tbilisi) is a Georgian-Austrian GM, switching federations and citizenship to Austria in 2009, where he assumed duties as the trainer of the Austrian women’s team. He won the Austrian CC twice and has represented Austria in six Olympiads. His peak ELO of 2591 was reached in May 2010 and he still maintains a hefty 2458 rating.

It's a game of blitz and White has innumerable routes to victory. What's the path forward that sets the stage for Vukovic's mate if Black is unwary?

When all roads lead to Rome, looking to enter the shortest path can save time and energy.

Hamlet Araya Gonzalez (1956) - Rafael Hannini (2062) Frontera online open 2nd, lichess.org 17.08.2020
Hamlet Araya Gonzalez is a Uruguayan chess player born in 1982. Until the ELO adjustment in March 2024 their peak rating had been 1641 in May 2022. The adjustment changed their baseline rating to 1783. A tidy bundle of rating points!

Rafael Hannini is a Brazilian chess player. They rarely play on chess.com but do so as @Rmmh, which they also use on lichess. They appear to have a FIDE ID but no rating is recorded.

NOTE: One of the moves in the solution is only the second-best move, but it is a very strong move and fits very well into the themes of this mating pattern. Given this was a blitz game, it may have been the best move on the board in a practical sense!!

The king fills in for one of the usual combatants, a pawn. A long journey's night made well worth the effort.

Matthias Blübaum (2661) - Dimitar Mardov (2435) Titled Tuesday, chess.com 03.01.2023
Matthias Blübaum makes another visit to our puzzles!  This German GM was born 18 April 1997. His peak ELO was 2674 in August 2021, establishing him at #61 in the world. His FIDE blitz and rapid ratings also exceed 2600. He still maintains residency in the top 100 players at #71 with a rating of 2674 in November 2024. As of 2021 he was studying for a Masters in Math and unsure if the life of a chess professional was for him. He plays on chess.com as @Msb2 and regularly participates in Titled Tuesday events.

Dimitar Mardov is a Bulgarian IM playing for the US Federation. Born in 2008 he earned his first GM norm in February 2024 at the 1000 GM Saint Louis Norm Event. He has also met the 2500 rating threshold, crossing that in August 2024. He plays regularly as @MolecularChemist on chess.com and was rated over 3000 in both blitz and bullet on 19 November 2024. He also maintains a website: About – Mardov Chess and offers coaching via chess.com.

That was a nice demonstration of clearing the playing field of defenders to establish the prerequisite conditions for Vukovic's mate. The idea of placing a white knight on f6 (or c6) to combine forces with a white major piece on the on the seventh rank is a powerful tool. Similar considerations apply for Black if they are able to place a knight on f3 (or c3) to combine forces with a black major piece on the on the second rank.

Jozsef Pinter (2555) - Craig Thomson (2335) EU-Cup, 16.04.1989 #1
Jozsef Pinter is a Hungarian GM and chess writer. Born 9 November 1953, he is a two-time winner of the Hungarian CC. His peak rating was 2595 in July 1998, and he still holds down a rating of 2528 as of November 2024. His books include 1000 Minor Piece Endings, 1000 Rook Endings, 1000 Pawn Endings, 300 Puzzles, and Secrets of Chess Tactics. Among his games one that stands out is his brilliant victory over Portisch in the 1984 Hungarian CC.

Craig Thomson was born in 1963 and is a Scottish FM. His peak FIDE rating was 2370 in 1988, during Scotland’s CC. His best win as a professional came in that tournament, beating the 2495-rated Neil McDonald. His rating had slid to 2256 as of June 2024.

A problem worth breaking into two parts. Otherwise, it's insanely difficult.

Okay, we got the easy part out of the way. Time to move on and put all the pieces together...so to speak. It's actually just some white pieces and the black king that come together😉.

Jozsef Pinter (2555) - Craig Thomson (2335) EU-Cup, 16.04.1989 #2
Now you are tasked to recreate the path that led White to victory, based on what you saw in the first problem in this set.

A fine example of a slow king journey that ends in joyful resolution for the sovereign who found his way to a point where he could contribute to a showy conclusion.

Francesco De Gleria (2446) - Martin Molinaroli (2225) Oberliga NRW 0001 I, 24.09.2000
Francesco De Gleria is a German IM born in 1979. His peak rating was 2446 at the beginning of the 21st century and still stands at 2380 after a very slight uptick in November 2024.

Martin Molinaroli is a German FM born in 1966. His peak rating was 2310 in 1995. After reaching a trough of 2058 in August 2023 he has since fought his way back to 2154 as of November 2024.

Black just placed their bishop on g7, threatening the a1-rook. An inaccurate move that overlooks the fact White might be able to ignore the threat! How would you respond, given that huge hint?

It is clear Black was intimately familiar with the Vukovic mating pattern to execute this so flawlessly in a blitz game. Patterns really do matter!!

Boris Spassky - Bent Larsen, Candidates Semifinal 09.07.1968
Hall Of Fame: 16: Boris Spassky - Chess.com
Boris Spassky was a Soviet-Russian GM born in 1937, Spassky supposedly learned chess while on a train of evacuees from Leningrad during the WWII siege of Leningrad. He became the tenth World CC after defeating Petrosian in 1969, the man he could not yet defeat in their 1966 match. Then Boris lost to Bobby Fischer in 1972, a scenario repeated in an unofficial match in 1992. Spassky won the Soviet CC twice and also lost two playoffs that could have seen him as a four-time Soviet CC. He immigrated to France in 1976.

Hall Of Fame - 29: Bent Larsen - Chess.com
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.

There is one quite surprising move in this one that significantly raises the difficulty level, imo.

After you solve the problem, you might learn a few tricks by examining some of the moves that are shown before the start of the puzzle.

Eric Torman (2340) - Th Ward, Lansing-ch open-A 1993
Eric Torman was an American chess player born in 1974 who has retired from chess. His peak rating of 2411 makes it surprising he never garnered a title, but he has not played since 1998 as near as I can determine.

Th Ward is a person with an unusual first name…at least in the ChessBase DB. He played in a number of city championships in Michigan from 1993 – 1995.

This is a long puzzle. As a hint, the mate is not at all apparent in the starting position. Black provides some unwitting assistance along the way, but it is also clear that White was steering towards a classic Vukovic mating pattern based on the black king's position. Good luck!

The long and winding road has reached death's door. The crypt slams shut on His Majesty.

Nikita Matinian (2421) - Bruno Martins (2342) Titled Tuesday late blitz, chess.com 25.07.2023
Nikita Matinian is a GM born in 1992 playing under FIDE auspices. He is also a chess.com coach under the handle @Aygehovit1992. His peak rating was 2514 in February 2018 but that has fallen to 2425 as of 31 October 2024.

Bruno Martins is a Portugese FM born in 2003. His peak rating was 2359 in October 2020, though he nearly returned to that level at 2358 in March 2024. His rapid and blitz ratings are closely aligned with his classical rating.

This is a long problem, eleven moves, and on the tenth move (move 35 in the game) White missed a mate in one. Other than that, every move is a best move. Can you replicate the pattern White was obviously focused on in this game?

Congratulations! You made it through all fifteen problems. If you got all of them right, you should be a titled player! And possibly a psychic since in several instances there is more than one correct solution. But chess.com has yet to determine how to flash a message that says, "That works. Now find the other winning move!" and then brings you back to the position.

That’s All Folks!!

We've reached the end. Hope you found it challenging enough to be enjoyable. Let me know if you found any mistakes and whether you enjoyed this. I know I have fun finding the examples and putting them through the wringer to see what I learn along the way. If you did enjoy it and would like to see others, there are links to the Secrets of Trapping Pieces series proffered below. And I'll be posting an end-of-year collection of some of the most difficult puzzles in this series in December.

Related blogs: You can find a multiverse 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"