Pattern Recognition: Anastasia's Mate-in-Two Puzzles, Pt. 2

Buenos dias! Remember last week's article about patterns? Well, here we are again with more puzzes for you! We will continue to practice Anastasia's Mate and look at variations on this theme. By, Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl).

The original Anastasia's Mate uses a rook along the h-file and a knight to guard the king's escape squares. See ya kingy!

----

----
But good chess players will realize that other pieces can do these jobs, too. For example, where would a bishop need to be to guard the king's escape squares in the position above? 
That's right - f7. And a queen could give checkmate as easily as a rook. There are many possible variations of this mating pattern. Can you recognize them? Smile In the puzzles below, it will be White to move and mate in two.

Variation one. Black has castled queenside, and a bishop guards his escape square. Now, how to force open the king's castle-blanket? Time to wake up Mr. King!

----

----
Variation two.  A forcing sac leads to mate with the queen!
----
----
Variation three. The knight would love to checkmate on f5, but what should happen first?
----
----
Variation four. Here we see a little pawn who prevents the king from getting away!
----
----
Awesome! You've got it for sure now, right?  Try this easy mate in three!!
----
----
Excellent! Remember the old joke: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"
----
----
"Practice, practice, practice!!" This pattern may look like the side-file mate. Many variations will occur when the f-pawn is missing. Click here and here to try a few. Now we're done with the craze of the Anastasia phase!
----

RELATED STUDY MATERIAL

  • Watch PinkHamster's video (complete with sound effects!) on Anastasia's mate;
  • Do my whole puzzle set - entirely devoted to Anastasia's mate;
  • PlayfulSquirrel loves the mate also - it must be everyone's favorite.