Legal's Mate

Here is mate in 7 moves by white from a normal looking position in the Philidor defense...

Yes this is a beautiful mate. If black suddenly sees what white is upto he can decline the queen and save his game.

             5) Nxe5 dxe5  6) Qxg4 Nf6

Black is a pawn down but at least he has nor lost immediately.

He must not withdraw the bishop or the following mate arises.

5) Nxe5  Be6   6) Bxe6 fxe6  7) Qh5 + mate next move

It looks as if Bg4 is a bad move for black so he should try Nf6.

We then get  4) Nc3 Nf6  5) 0-0 Bg4 now playable as the queen sac does not work the final mating square is covered by blacks knight.

5. Nxe5 is a terrible move, trading a Knight for a Pawn?  5. h3 is much better.  Don't know how many times I've posted this now, but here:

Notice there was no black knight on C6 in the game I just played. In my case Nxe5 is an outstanding move. Had there been a Knight on C6 I would not have made the move.

Absolutely correct Osage my point was black could survive if he did not take the queen even in your position.

One has to very carefully examine these positions, it only wants one slight difference and the combination fails.

Wow! Very cool!

Indeed sir. I agree. When I took the pawn I expected black to take my knight and I would have taken his bishop with my queen winning the center pawn and I would have felt good about that. However, when he went for the queen he was utterly lost.