Inventory of Mating Nets

What is a Mating Net?

A mating net is a checkmate position involving one or more pieces. The pieces that aid in checkmating a King need not to be on the band of the player that is checkmating. In fact, as we will see in the following example, our opponent’s pieces often betray their King by blocking any escape routes, while the enemy piece approaches to deliver the final blow. For cataloguing purposes, however, I will only be using the assisting pieces of the side that is checkmating. This will become clear in the example below.

This is a Queen-type mating net. I have catogued this type of mate as a Queen mate because the Queen is the only piece in black’s army that is assisting in the checkmate.

Putting aside the “catalogue” question, the reader will notice that Black is able to deliver checkmate, not because her majesty is worth 9 points and is all hot stuff, but also thanks to the Rook on g1 preventing the King’s escape. This theme crops up very often in mating nets, and here White wished the Rook did not exist in order to live another move. As Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) says in the movie Fight Club “Sometimes the things you own end up owning you.”

What does mating nets have to with tactics?

A mating net is often the last move of a chess tactic that involves a checkmate (as opposed to a chess tactic that only gains material or other positonal compensation). Often times a chess player is able to visualize the possibility of a mating net, and wiith the aid of his tactical knowledge, ability to calculate, and degree of imagination, the player is then able to execute checkmate. When the player arrives at the final mating position he has, indeed, realized the mating net he first envisioned.

Knowledge of mating nets alone, however, won’t help you much in squeezing the opportunities in your chess games. You also need to work on your tactics and calculation. One of my chess desires has been to design and build my own chess sets. I often envision the chess set in its final form, but lacking any training in the arts and having “butter” hands as my wife bluntly says it, prevents me from creating the set as I saw it in my mind. The same applies here. One needs to work on tactics and calculation in order to arrive at the mating net. For those who wish to work on their tactics I have compiled a list of free sources online arranged by tactical motif:

http://community.webshots.com/album/559609683DMygtM

Moving on to a concrete example…

 

Here is an example taking the Queen-type mating net described earlier. The position is from an 1872 game (NN-Anderssen). Anderssen’s canvas is the chess board. He visualizes the Queen-type net mating on h3 once the pawn is removed from h2 and the Rook is forced to join the other side. Anderssen takes out his paint brush and begins his masterpiece 1…Bg2!+ 2.Rxg2 Qf1+ 3.Rg1 Ng4+! 4.hxg3 Qh3 mate.

What tactics were involved in this spectacular series of moves?

Deflection (1…Bg2!+, as the Rook is deflected in order to weaken the back-rank.)

Pinning (Black takes advantage of the pin of the Rook on g1 by Black’s Queen.)

We might not have the chess genius of an Adolf Anderssen, but you will agree that if this was a position from one of our games, and we were thoroughly familiar with mating patterns, the possibility of mating on h3 with Queen may have crossed our minds.

Inventory of Mating Nets

This inventory constitutes 196 example and it is by no means exhaustive. What’s important in viewing these nets is the mating pattern in question, and not the “exact” position. I have sometimes throw in a lot of material on the losing side, just to show the power of mating nets over material superiority.

The diagrams are hosted on a photo album.  You may want to Right-click on the link below and choose “Open in New Window” to keep this website open if you wish.

I will be adding some other nets by end of August. Enjoy!

http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/559266737flytsN