A Rare Smothered Mate

I reached this positon in a recent game



having just given the check on f7 I was waiting in anticipation for Kg8 allowing me a beautiful and rare smothered mate Ne7#

Unfortunately my opponent resigned instead of moving Kg8 (or the rather boring Rxf7)

Originally posted by watchyourbackrank
I reached this positon in a recent game

[fen]rnb2r1k/2qp1Npp/p4p2/2p2N2/4Pp2/1B1P4/PPP2PPP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 2 15[/fen]

having just given the check on f7 I was waiting in anticipation for Kg8 allowing me a beautiful and rare smothered mate Ne7#

Unfortunately my opponent resigned instead of moving Kg8 (or the rather boring Rxf7)

Originally posted by no1marauder
Sorry; it's not a smothered mate unless the Rook (or other piece) is on g8 (or g1) and the King is on h8 (or h1).

Originally posted by no1marauder
Sorry; it's not a smothered mate unless the Rook (or other piece) is on g8 (or g1) and the King is on h8 (or h1).

Originally posted by no1marauder
Sorry; it's not a smothered mate unless the Rook (or other piece) is on g8 (or g1) and the King is on h8 (or h1).

Originally posted by watchyourbackrank
I reached this positon in a recent game

[fen]rnb2r1k/2qp1Npp/p4p2/2p2N2/4Pp2/1B1P4/PPP2PPP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 2 15[/fen]

having just given the check on f7 I was waiting in anticipation for Kg8 allowing me a beautiful and rare smothered mate Ne7#

Unfortunately my opponent resigned instead of moving Kg8 (or the rather boring Rxf7)

Isn't it annoying when your opponent resigns instead of allowing you to give a pretty mate?

When it's an ugly mate, I don't mind so much.

I agree. Actually if a forced mate arises I do let me opponent play it ugly or not. I normally resign based on material/position but do feel it is rude not to allow an opponent to have his mate if you have taken him that far.

Originally posted by watchyourbackrank
Unfortunately my opponent resigned....

There have been over 7,700 Knight mate in the 1400 DB,

A lot have come from the Shilling Gambit trap.

This is one of the longest games I could find with a pure smothered mate.

Russ(!) Gordon v Joe Kelly. RHP 2010

These two have played each over 40 times, this was one of the few that
ended in a mate.

For the record.

7,260+ Bishop Mates
83,020+ Queen Mates
37,950 + Rook Mates
6,077 + Pawn mates
60+ King mates (either by castling or moving giving a discovered checkmate).

Originally posted by toeternitoe
Not really,that is just the most well known smothered mate.But that's not the only pattern.

Definition from the art of the checkmate:
"A smothered mate is one in which the king is deprived of all its flight squares by its own pieces or pawns.It is delivered by a knight"

Below positions are all smothered mates:
[fen]5nkr/4Nppp/8/8/8/8/8/4K3 b - - ...[text shortened]... [/fen]

[fen]r2qkb1r/pp1npppp/2pN1n2/5bN1/8/8/PPPPQPPP/R1B1KB1R b KQkq - 0 6[/fen]

toet.

still the possible mate in my game is not to be considered a smothered mate because one of the flight squares was controlled by my piece.

Originally posted by watchyourbackrank
still the possible mate in my game is not to be considered a smothered mate because one of the flight squares was controlled by my piece.

yeah, two squares

Originally posted by toeternitoe
Definition from the art of the checkmate:
"A smothered mate is one in which the king is deprived of all its flight squares by its own pieces or pawns.It is delivered by a knight"