Really? It's not even the right kind of pillow, you bonehead.

Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Smothered Mate

KevinSmithIdiot

Updated: Oct 22, 2024, 11:50 AM | 4

The primary purpose of this blog is to allow you to test your skills in applying the Smothered 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 Smothered Mate. You can skip the discussion and go directly to the puzzles by scrolling past the picture further below.

We begin with some diagrams showing some typical features of the Smothered Mate in which the King is mated by an opposing Knight. A key feature is that all (not the trademarked laundry detergent, and yes, I said "all" even though you should never say "all"...or "never") potential flight squares are filled by traitors. Back-stabbers from His own Court who smother their own Liege Lord by huddling too close in a virtual swaddle. In the thumbnail above you may have noted that the would-be Figure of Death is using a neck pillow in an attempt to smother their opponent. Uhm...that pillow is normally intended to help you sleep on airplanes or other forms of conveyance. And seems less than fully suitable for actually smothering someone...particularly in a tournament hall.

Note that I prefer the term Smothered Configuration. My reasoning being that the mere threat of a Smothered 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. At least one puzzle and the last game entry in this blog both point to the value of realizing a mate threat can be almost as powerful as an actual mate! I have numerous examples, but that's a story for a different day.

Diagrams of some typical Smothered Mates
Note that Suffocation Mates are quite similar to Smothered Mates. In the latter, a King finds all his potential flight squares filled by treasonous, friendly pieces while an opposing Knight delivers mate. Suffocations allow for occurrences where at least one flight square is covered by an opposing piece, but the King still finds himself unable to breathe because his BFFs have crowded too close. I covered that configuration last week at Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Suffocation Mate.

Diagram 1:
Bottom Right Corner: Another typical motif finds a Knight delivering a devastating check. This could easily have involved a comely Queen sacrificing Herself on f1 to lure a lecherous Rook to that square and imprison the King.

Top Left Corner: A Smothered Configuration that results in mate. This is the prototypical smothered mate most of us are familiar with. The Rook on d8 will capture the irresistible Queen and the Knight will then render the King moot, and mute, from c7.

Diagram 2:
Bottom Right Corner: A somewhat unusual, smothered mate but one that does occur. Any White piece could be substituted for the Rook on g1. And, on a final quaint note, a Knight or Bishop could be substituted for the turncoat Pawns. The point being that none of them could capture the death-dealing champion on g3.

Top Left Corner: Occasionally a Knight can deliver a smothered mate from c6 or a6. This presumes both a pin along the b-file and that the King is engulfed among his pieces with no luft...or balloons (for which I refer you to 99 Luft Balloons by the German band Nena). Note how Black's Bishop on c8 prevents a Knight from delivering mate on d7 but acts as a turncoat by filling the c8 square.

Diagram 3:
Bottom Left Corner: A plausible scenario might have seen Black deliver a check on d1, after which the White Knight had to intervene on c1. Now the Black Knight can vacate the f1 square, where it blocked the h1-Rook from defending White's first rank, and deliver mate from d2.

Top Right Corner: A plausible scenario might have seen White deliver a check on e8, after which the Black Bishop had to intervene on f8. Now the White Knight can deliver mate from e7.

That's how you place the pillow effectively. Not sure about the lack of celebration though. Puzzlin'.

And so, let the puzzles begin!
Siedlanowski, Lukasz (1834) - Polgar, Judit (2710) EU-ch rapid 2011.12.17
Find the game-ending maneuver. HEADS UP: I set this puzzle up four times. And it does not work correctly. Hit the "?" button in the lower left corner once you solved it in your head. At least that button works correctly. Annoying bug. Not as bad as spiders in your attic I suppose. Or bats in your belfry.

Lessons learned: Sometimes a smothered configuration is all you need. In this case it even leads to a computer mate in eight. We'll hop, skip and jump over that formality. If White had bothered to capture on f2 rather than resigning, then the resulting material imbalance would have been quite discombobulating.

Lee, Jun Hyeok (2369) - Wagner, Dennis (2581) Chess.com Bullet op1, 2020.12.19
As easy as it gets. Even in bullet chess. Maybe not hyper-bullet...

Lessons learned: Sometimes the Queen and Knight need timely assistance from another piece to administer a Smothered Mate. In this case, it was the Bishop parked on c5.

Pap, Gyula (2553) - Prohaszka, Peter (2573) HUN-ch 62nd, 2012.11.28
Finding actual smothered mates at topflight levels of chess was far easier than I expected! Of course, they all seemed to be help mates, raising other questions. For instance, in this game White just played 37.h6. Why a help mate? Making it fun for the crowd to play it out? It's not as though chess players are paid by the move...what an interesting innovation that would be! Last 50 moves against GM Carlsen and make fifty dollars!! The entry fee is only ten bucks. Not open to anyone rated over 2000 FIDE OTB, and only blitz or faster time controls. All conditions subject to alteration at the GM's whimsy.

Lessons learned: Never give your opponent a moments rest. Check, check, check, checkmate. A bit of a change from the thematic sac, sac, mate. But the principle is the same.

Duron Godoy, Sari Esther - Garcia Castro, Veronica, Olympiad Women-36, 2004.10.29
GM Simon Williams frequently pronounces that moving the f-pawns is tantamount to waving the white flag of surrender. Let's see...

Lessons learned: If White has advanced their f-pawn one or two squares, and if their King is still on g1, then Black should always be considering opportunities for a black Queen and Knight to combine in a mating attack. The same applies in reverse on Black's side of the board.

Nilsen, Tobias Lang (2170) - Potapov, Alexander1111 (2424) Titled Tuesday 2020.05.12
Wait. Isn't Black just a piece down? Well, yes. But they have sufficient compensation thanks to White's mistake. And White is going to offer even more assistance on the next move...helpful, hapless, hopeless.

Lesson learned: Even titled players can overlook mate in three! From both sides of the board!! In this game White missed it when they attacked Black's Queen with 12.Nf3. In the always apocryphal notes, Black missed a game-ender on their twelfth move. I feel their pain.

Bird, Henry Edward - NN, Bird GBR tour sim, 1869
Black actually had an equal position just a few moves ago. But abysmal play by Black has altered the trajectory of this game. Now it's just an experimental rocket that got off the launch pad but then exploded before really touching the sky.

Lessons learned:

A. Simuls often provide masters with some easy peasy pickings.
B. The best move doesn't necessarily end the game the fastest. Well, more objectively, there is a certain element of expectation that bad moves will be followed by worse moves when playing amateurs.

Morphy, Paul - Schrufer, F casual Paris 31.03.1859
Black just played 19...Kc8. An unfortunate decision. 19...Ke8 does find the King lurking in the center like an annoying uncle at the annual family reunion who always becomes the center of attention. But most would say there is at least some advantage to keeping your King on the board.

Lessons learned:
A. Kings in the center and disconnected Rooks often precede a series of unfortunate events. Nothing to do with the Lemony Snicket character in Daniel Handler's books.
B. Sometimes there is relatively lengthy maneuvering of the Knight in pursuit of establishing a smothered mate configuration. In this instance that maneuvering was made easier by the series of double and discovered checks. In more complex scenarios lengthier consideration goes into creating opportunities to reach a more fortuitous Knight position.

Morphy, Paul - Bryan, Thomas Morphy Odds (Nb1) 1859
Black just played 19...Qg4. Conceptually sound. Trade Queens and the odds of winning increase dramatically. Unfortunately, Black overlooked a critical tactical point. What was that?

Lessons learned:
A. A check was required to send the King scurrying to the side because White could impose a mate on e7 if He went back to the center.
B. Our first example of how the groundwork is laid to bring the Knight to the pantry for a Royal feast. And then maneuvers to deliver a discovered check that prepares the table for just desserts to be delivered.

Da Vilhete, Vania Fausto - Arias Formoso, Rodolfo (2185) Olympiad-37, 2006.05.24

White is down material but has pinned their faltering hopes on the open Black King. But there's a fault line that finds White's King slipping into the abyss as the ground opens up.

Lessons learned/Questions asked:

A. What thoughts lurked in White's mind? Help-mate? Wanted to give a boost to flagging crowd attendance by allowing mate to appear on the board? Liked the idea of ending the game with a material advantage?

B. One has to consider the safety of both Kings.

Zacarias, Gonzalo - Comp Hiarcs 8, Celeron 500 Mhz 32M, 2002.07.27

White was losing in any case. So why not a little help-mate, eh?

Lessons learned: Uhm. Actually, I didn't learn anything from this one. Nada, zilch, nothing. So, we'll settle for the reminder that when given the opportunity, you should definitely, against convention, win with an underpromotion. Rub their noses in your superiority, so to speak.

Vergara Cardenas, Alex - Castaneda, Victor (1881) Pan American Amateur-ch, 2014.08.27

White just captured a Rook on e8. Methinks, they did not recognize the helping hand mate they just offered Black.

Lessons learned: Cross-pollination of ideas can help point out additional mating patterns. Draw what innuendos you will from that statement. If you are quite familiar with the Back-rank mate (no double entendre intended), then you have probably encountered the idea of blocking the view of an opposing Rook so that your Rook can deliver a deadly kiss on their bank rank. White could interpose here by placing a Knight on c1, so the configuration transposes to a Smothered Mate.

Schmidt, W. - Roeder, Frank (2250) Krumbach op 1985

Black apparently thought everything was under control. Perhaps they wanted to continue with 19...h6 and 20...Kh7 to bring the h8-Rook into the game. Unfortunately for Black, their opponent spotted a scintillating riposte.

Lessons learned: Queens, bah! Who needs 'em.

Lee, Jun Hyeok (2369) - Wagner, Dennis (2581) Chess.com Bullet op1, 2020.12.19

White had a great position and 16.Bxe5 would have been the next step on the path to Victory Lane. Instead, they captured on e5 with the Knight. And the flag person waved the black flag. White must be removed from the track.

How do you bring White to the realization that the light rushing towards them is NOT a good thing.

Lessons learned:

A. Deciding which piece should perform a capture can be critical. In this case, White's decision to capture on e5 with the Knight unleashed a ravening horde (members of the Dathroki clan perhaps) aimed at the f2 pawn.

B. Sometimes the Queen and Knight need timely assistance from another piece to administer a Smothered Mate. In this case, it was the Bishop parked on c5.

Duron Godoy, Sari Esther - Garcia Castro, Veronica, Olympiad Women-36, 2004.10.29

White just played 13.Ng5 to increase pressure on f7. One inadvertent, seemingly meaningless side effect is that the Bishop on h6 is trapped by its own partner, intent on joint criminal mischief. How did Black respond?

Lessons learned:

A. As GM Simon Williams frequently points out, be careful when advancing Freddy. the famously feckless, fornicating f-pawn.

B. Don't panic!! Initially it appeared Black's position was under significant pressure. A White Bishop on h6 restricting His Majesty's movements. Another Bishop on c4 creating pressure against f7. And then a Knight hopped onto g5, increasing the pressure against f7. You've got to be the rubber band! Stretch and then bounce back!!

Timofeev, Artyom (2670) - Belov, Vladimir (2579) RUS Cup final 12.11.2008

"Missed it by That Much!" Maxwell Smart always had a problem with being 'this close', otherwise known as 'so near but so far'. That could well be the theme of this intricate game. An instructive example in which the White King is trapped by a Knight and Queen, but Black lacks the resources to finish the job. So Black has two choices. Settle for a draw by perpetual. Or execute a mini-windmill attack, shades of Don Quixote, and then attempt an endgame with Queens still on the board and an imbalance of a Rook and two passed Pawns against a pair of Knights. Risky indeed. Our focus in on the smothered configuration that is clearly apparent by move twenty. But the close of the game is presented as it draws attention to the risks for both sides in unbalanced endgames.

Lessons learned or revisited:

A. Black's piece sacrifice achieved an unbalanced position in which an error by either side would probably have resulted in a loss. But objectively the resulting complications petered out to an uneasy equality.

B. Though Black's Queen and Knight managed to trap the King, there was no third piece to finish the job. And there was no windmill attack that was sufficient to alter the material imbalance irretrievably in Black's favor.

It's puzzling, but sometimes I just have an overwhelming urge to smother one of you smug Royals. Not YOU, of course...

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

Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Bishop + Pawn
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Bishop, Knight and King
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Rook Part 1 of 2
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Rook Part 2 of 2
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Knight
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by Pawns

Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knight Trapped by King + Piece

Knight Trapped by Pawns

Bishop

Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Pawns Part 1 of 5
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Pawns Part 2 of 5
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Pawns Part 3 of 5
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Pawns Part 4 of 5
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Pawns Part 5 of 5
Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Bishop Dominated by Rook + Pawn

Bishop Trapped by Pawns

Rook

Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Fianchettoed Rook

Tower, aka Rook, Trapped by Knight and Pawns

Queen

Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Knights and Foot Soldiers Hunting Her Majesty

Queen Trapped by Knights and Pawns