Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Hook Mate

The primary purpose of this blog is to allow you to test your skills in applying the Hook Mate, not just trapping the king but putting an end to His Majesty. The puzzles range from very easy to...well, it took a very strong player to see this over the board. The puzzles are provided after some brief discussion of some typical configurations of pieces that constitute an example of the Hook Mate. You can skip the discussion and go directly to the puzzles by scrolling past the picture further below.

Note that I prefer the term Hook Configuration. My reasoning being that the mere threat of a Hook Configuration may be sufficient to compel significant concessions from the opponent. Perhaps even concessions sufficient to state that the game is effectively over from a technical perspective. There is at least one puzzle in this blog that demonstrates how the value of achieving a Hook Configuration can generate resignation, earning a victory nearly as rapidly as delivering mate! 

On a side note, as soon as I heard the phrase Hook Mate I was immediately thrown into Neverland. Memories of Peter Pan, Captain Hook, the Lost Boys, Smee, Tinkerbell and others dragged me into childhood dreams of never growing old and always beating the bad guys. From there I rapidly journeyed to Treasure Island, just the snap of a synapse away, and visited Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver. Not the food joint, the pirate. And I must admit, I quite enjoyed Treasure Planet when it was released in 2002.

Diagram of some typical Hook Mates
This mate has its name from the fact that the knight and rook, or queen, appear to form a hook with the major piece delivering mate and the knight protecting the major piece and covering one of the king's would-be escape squares. Generally, the knight is protected by a pawn, but occasionally another piece fills that role.

It's a hook that leaves the opposing king skewered, like a worm about to be dropped into some dank body of water. "Swim with the fishes you balmy royal!"

Upper right-hand corner: White delivers mate in two moves. Note how the g-pawn both protects the knight and covers f6 as a potential flight square.

Lower left-hand corner: Had it been black to move, mate would have been delivered with 1...Rd1+ 2.Kb2 Rb1#. In this instance we see a rook protecting the a3-Knight. Meanwhile, White's c-pawn fills the role of traitor, preventing His Majesty from fleeing via that square.

Let the Puzzles Begin!
Williams, Simon (2405) - Critelli, James, Internet Section 18-B, 2003.11.25
Simon Williams, aka the Ginger GM, earned his final GM norm at Hastings International Chess Congress 2005/2006 and the prerequisite 2500+ rating two years later at Hastings 2007/2008. He is a well-known chess commentator and streamer.

Do hook mates occur in the endgame? Glad you asked.

Hmm...Black is a piece down so clearly realized their one chance lay in removing all the pawns from the board. Consequently, Black played 44...Rxg3. Presenting White with an opportunity to end this blitz game against their overmatched opponent.

Ivanchuk, Vassily (2731) - Aronian, Levon (2803) Beijing Sportaccord blitz 2013.12.19
Chess genius and three-time world #2, most recently in 2007, meets the then #2 player in the world, Levon Aronian.

Black just lashed out and moved the bishop from f7 to capture the white pawn on c4. No doubt intending to follow up with ...Bd5 to corral the runaway a-pawn before it reaches a8. But Black's furious attempt overlooked king safety.

White just played fxg4 in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure on their kingside. Instead, it was like applying a flamethrower to an already heated kettle. Time to pop the lid! (This is NOT an advertisement for Jiffy Pop popcorn. I don't even know if they still make it.)

But White spotted something better. Do you see it?

Murtas Kazhgaleyev is a Kazakhstani GM who received the FIDE title in 1998. His peak rating of 2653 was achieved in 2009.

Judit Polgar is the Queen of Chess. My title for her. She was also one of the top ten players in the world for a number of years. And the first person to break Bobby Fischer's record as the youngest ever GM. She also broke into FIDE's top 100 list at the age of twelve, ranking number 55!! Her sister Susan is also a GM and the third sister, Sofia, is an IM. Tough family!

White just played 39.Bxg5. This double attack, the pawn on h4 and the bishop on c3, bounces off Black's armor and deals a death blow to White's king.

Gagunashvili, Merab (2555) - Kalegin, Evgenij (2458) Moscow Aeroflot op-B 2006.02.11
Merab Gagunashvili is a Georgian GM and two-time Georgian chess champion. His peak rating was 2625 in early 2007.

Evgenij Kalegin is a Russian IM who earned the title in 1993. His peak rating at classical chess was just over 2500 FIDE. At age 70 he can still be found playing games on chess.com.

Black just placed their king on g7, completely altering the normal outcome of the game. Find the winning plan for White.

Ivanchuk, Vassily (2781) - Gelfand, Boris (2720) Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz 2008.08.29
We introduced Vassily Ivanchuk earlier. A Ukrainian GM born in 1969 he achieved the title in 1988. He won the World Blitz Ch in 2007 and the World Rapid Ch in 2016.

Boris Gelfand is a six-time World Championship candidate who won the 2011 Candidates. The match ended in a 6-6 tie and saw Gelfan losing the tiebreaker 2½–1½ at a rapid time control.

It's blitz. See a pawn, grab a pawn. So Black captured the singleton on b3. After all, there seems to be no clear and imminent danger.

Daniele Vocaturo is an Italian GM who earned the title in 2009. He was only the third Italian player to achieve the title.

Daniele Genocchio is an Italian IM whose peak classical rating of 2464 coincided with the year this championship was held.

Black had a dominating position until move 36. Then achieved a losing position by the time they reached the first time control at move forty. Now Black finished themselves off with 44...d2?? Sure, it threatens to capture the rook on e1 and make a queen. But in their panic, they must have been playing hope chess. How did White punish Black?

Anatoly Machulsky is a Russian GM who reached #74 on FIDE's world rankings in July of 1991.

Black has several pieces hanging but also has a decisive attacking mechanism that will drive White to resign.
Can you demonstrate how?

Lesson learned: The Hook Configuration doesn't need to presage a mate in order to earn the win. Here it gains a queen for the low, low price of a rook.
Andrianov, Nikolai - Lutikov, Anatoly (2425) URS-ch48 Semifinal 1980.08
Nikolai Andrianov is a Russian IM born in 1961 and earned his title in 1988, seven years after this tournament.

Anatoly Lutikov was born in 1933 and did not receive his IM title until 1967, and then his GM title in 1974. There is hope for late bloomers! He earned third place in the USSR Chess Championship 1968/69 and finished second behind Boris Spassky at Wijk aan Zee 1967!

White just got greedy, one of the seven deadly sins. How did Black punish this transgression?

Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina (2432) - Pilane Masego, Sylvia, WchT (Women) 1st, 2007.05.29
Ekaterina Kovalevskaya is a Russian IM and WGM. She won the Russian Women's Chess Championship twice, 1994 and 2000. Her most painful podium experience certainly had to be finishing in the runner-up spot in the 2004 Women's World Chess Championship! Ah, so close to a significant piece of chess history.

Black just captured a white rook on f8. Probably holding out hope of some back rank miracle given that White's king has zero flight squares. White dashed those hopes.

Irina Bulmaga is a Romanian IM and WGM. Her peak FIDE rating was 2453 in February 2020.

Alina Kashlinskaya is a Polish IM and WGM. Her peak FIDE rating was 2505 in June 2022.

Black played for the win by doubling down on the pin with 32...Rfh7. That is a game ending move. But it ends in White's favor. How did White quickly end the game.

Related blogs: You can find an entire mini-universe of blogs about trapping various pieces at the links below. Or for the visually inclined you can just use your favorite search engine and ask to see images for "Secrets of Trapping Pieces". You'll either get pictures posted by animal trappers, I suspect mostly people who are not named Kristi Noem, or pictures posted by yours truly.
Knight

SUCCESS!! Publication of my "Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Fundamentals"