A Stunning Anastasia's Mate

A Stunning Anastasia's Mate

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Yesterday, Magnus Carlsen posted a nice chess problem on his youtube page. The problem is taken from a game against Norway's number 2, Jon Ludvig Hammer (great name).

 

The problem features a nice Anastasia's Mate. My personal favorite version of Anastasia's mate is the following stunning checkmate taken from the exercises in Reynaud and Khan's "The Art of Checkmate".

 

 

I recently came across this combination again in Sukhin's book "Chess Gems". As it turns out, the combination has a fascinating history. It was originally played in the game Golmayo - Loyd. Sam Loyd, the great problem composer, announced mate in 8 with Ra1+??! However, in that game, annotated below, there is no pawn on c4. Therefore, 34. Ka2! Qxc2 35. Qc6! is possible and even better for White. White missed this, and immediately resigned! When the flaw was later found, it was too late to protest, and Loyd retained the full point.

 



SamCopeland
NM Sam Copeland

I'm the Head of Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2015, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.

You can find my personal content on Twitch , Twitter , and YouTube where I further indulge my love of chess.