Checkmate Patterns - Boden's Mate

In this blog we will look at examples of the Boden's mate.

The mate is named after Samuel Boden who executed this mate perfectly with the black pieces in this game from 1853 played in London.

The skeleton

The Boden's mate combines the power of the two bishops dominating diagonals that cross each other. For this pattern to work we also need opposing pieces blocking the king's escape. In this case and most often it's the rook on d8 and the knight on d7 and neither of these pieces can interpose anything to stop the mate.

Before looking at some examples for you to solve, I suggest you have a look at a video explanation of this mating pattern.

Lets see some examples and you can do the solving to help you print this pattern into your subconscious

Lets first see a very classic example. Black has just "castled into it"  ...there is no piece on d7 but we can fix that!

It's not always the Queen that delivers the sacrifice

An easy finish for white

In this example black just played the move 14...Nf6?

A simple finish by Koltanowski

The bishops are not the only diagonal pieces!

Lets finish this last one in style!

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