Checkmate Monday continues with a selection of Mikhail Chigorin’s checkmates.
Chigorin (1850-1908) lost two matches for the World Chess Championship against the defending champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, in 1889 and 1892.
He was a highly creative player who enjoyed a long and successful chess career, despite dying at the comparatively young age of 57.
His sharp tactical eye helped him win many games in style, which brings us nicely to our selection of Chigorin’s checkmates.
Unusual Back-rank Checkmate
Mikhail Chigorin – Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
Kiev 1903
White to play
Chigorin spotted an unusual way in which to exploit a weakness on the back rank.
26.Ne7+
Forking the king and queen.
26…R8xe7
Or 26…R2xe7 27 Qxe7! intending 27…Rxe7 28 Rd8+ Re8 29 Rxd8 checkmate.
30.Rd8+ Re8
Black looks safe, until we see White’s next move.
31.Qf8+!! 1-0
Black’s only move is 31…Rxf8 but then 32.Rxf8 is checkmate, so he resigned instead; 1-0.
Queen Sacrifice
Mikhail Chigorin – Alexander Solovtsov
Moscow, 1884
White to play
Black’s position certainly looks fragile, but what is the most efficient way to make it crack?
45.Qxd8+!
A queen sacrifice!
45…Nxd8
46.Nc7 checkmate.
A queen sacrifice and a knight checkmate to follow. Every chess player dreams of such things.
The Old Weakness
Mikhail Chigorin – Szymon Winawer
Monte Carlo, 1901
White to play
The weakest square in Black’s camp is f7. At the start of a game it is only protected by the king. It can remain a weak point even after Black has castled, as is the case here.
19.Bxf7+!
Black doesn’t have to capture the sacrifice but after any other move he is going to lose a lot of material.
19…Kxf7
Essentially, Black’s way of resigning the game.
20.Qe6 checkmate.
A disaster for Winawer, but it is only to be expected against Chigorin if one leaves f7 in such a weak state.
Knightmare
St Petersburg, 1880
White to play
Chigorin has already sacrificed material to develop this excellent attack and he throws more wood on the fire in order to keep it burning.
24.Qxe7+!
Another queen sacrifice!
24…Rxe7
25.Rxe7+
25…Rf7
Or 25…Kg8 26.Bc4+! Rf7 27.Re8+ Kg7 28.Ne6 checkmate. The attack still runs like clockwork after Black’s defense of choice.
26.Ne6+ Kg8
27.Re8+ Rf8
28.Rxf8 checkmate.
Fabulous play by Chigorin!
Chessable Course
There are many more beautiful checkmating patterns in our course, The Checkmate Patterns Manual, by International Master John Bartholomew and CraftyRaf. This course won third place in our Chessable Awards for 2020.
There is a shortened, free version of the course here.
