Smothered mate

Chess Traps – Blackburne Shilling Gambit

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit is an attack that comes from the Italian game. The attack by black is characterised by the third move Nd4. This move goes against the opening principal of moving a piece more then once in the opening.

The opening looks to temp white into taking the now unprotected pawn on e5. However this would be an incorrect move that allows black to have a strong attack. If the pawn is rejected white looks to have the advantage in the game. 0-0 or Nxd4 are both considered strong moves for white.

As a young player I almost always opened with the Italian game and enjoyed moving into the Fried Liver variation as white. I can remember opening with the Italian game as a young player at my local chess club (Adult club) and falling into this exact trap! It is fair to say i have not done so since!

This trap also shows an example of a smothered mate with the help of a piece pinned to the King just like the chess trap from the Caro Kann that has been posted also.

 

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Famous Games – Smothered Mate

Hello again!

So I have realised that the smothered mate technique has come up a few times in my recent posts so I thought I would delve a little deeper and have a look at some other examples of this great mating strategy to share with you!

The following game is a match between James McConnell and Paul Morphy in the year 1849. McConnell opens with the Kings Gambit and Morphy continues with the Kings Gambit accepted. Morphy shows a great example of how to set up a position in order to achieve a smothered mate.

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Blitz Game

This is yet another blitz game! This game shows a good example of a mating strategy that I find comes up quite frequently known as the smothered mate! The opening is the Sicilian defence although white seems to be playing more of an Italian style opening against it and blunders a few moves early in the opening.

 

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