The Art of the Checkmate

"The art of the checkmate has at last been provided with a scientific foundation." — Chicago Sunday Tribune One of the most difficult situations in chess is seeing potential mates in the near future. All players, even grandmasters and champions, have missed such mates in actual play, to their chagrin and the bystanders' delight, for all too often it is easier to play for momentary advantage than to force a mate. This book by two former national chess champions of France provides a rational classification of mating situations, and shows how each possible type of mate has emerged with its variants in actual play. In an examination of 127 games, the authors identify 23 kinds of mate and show you the rationale for each. These include among others Legal's pseudo sacrifice, the double check, the smothered mate, Greco's mate, the Corridor mate, Anderssen's mate, Morphy's mate, mates with heavy and minor pieces, the mate of two bishops, of two knights, and many more. Review quizzes with answers are included, so that you can gauge your progress. Since this book analyzes ideas rather than setting memorization tasks, it will enable you to see basic patterns, give direction to your game from the earliest moves, help you to foresee forced mates and counter effectively, and most important, improve your style of play so that you can force mate. "The Art of the Checkmate will surely be a valuable addition to the library of any chess fan."— Springfield Republican