Friday, February 02, 2007

Mating Patterns: Bishop and Rook

mate with rook and bishop Onderka - Amateur, Austria 1913
White to play and mate in three.

mate with rook and bishop Duras - Olland, Carlsbad 1907 (variation)
White to play and mate in three.


I put together a handout (in Word and PDF) for my chess students to teach them the Bishop and Rook mating pattern. For the "solutions," I have posted a java replay page that includes the games from which the puzzles were drawn, along with several other games featuring the same motif. Our discussion of this pattern fit well with showing them "The Chess Instructor's Favorite Game": Morphy vs. the Count and Duke, Paris 1858.

After putting together the file of games (which is based on articles by Walter Korn from Chess Review 1961), I did some database searches and compiled an original file on the same theme. I will post that one and several other handouts on other motifs as my lessons continue.

4 comments:

Tom Chivers said...

I do like thematic tactics. I've been getting stumped by so many strange and wonderful puzzles and studies recently, it's great to go back to some child's play!

John Bolch said...

Sorry to be pedantic, but surely the first one is actually a mate in 5, in the line: 1. Nc7+ Rxc7 2. Qxc6+ Qd7 3. Rxd7 Rxd7 4. Qc8+ Rd8 5. Qxd8#?

Michael Goeller said...

John: Yes -- you are correct, of course. I should have stated it differently. But for kids, it's mate in three.... :-)

Tom: I am putting together another set of puzzles especially for you. We're going to "take it up a notch"!

John Bolch said...

Good - for a moment then I thought I was going mad, not being able to find a mate in three in all lines!

BTW, love the blog - I've been a regular visitor for a while, and should have said something before. Keep up the excellent work!