Swallow's Tail part deux (2)

It's Sammy again!  You know who I am, of course, because you read part one.    We will continue our discussion of the Swallow's Tail Mate today, and we will do some trickier puzzles.

By the way, this is my cousin the swallow tailed hummingbird, which, I bet you didn't know, is the National Bird of Jamaica!  Butterflies can have swallow-tails, too. 

(Giant Swallow Tail Butterfly)

And in chess the tail is the two squares that the queen cannot guard, a knight's distance away from her!

Here is an easy one to get you started:

 

 

 

Super!  Was that too easy?  How about the next puzzle?

 

 

 

And finally, let's combine some ideas.  Remember Ms. Martin's lessons on tactics?  If not, you can always go to our article library to re-read them.  You can never be too good at tactics.

 

 

Do you know what trick you had to use?  The Decoy Tactic!  Lure the king to e6...  These checkmates can happen in your own games, too.  In fact, the puzzle above came from real game.  If you want to see it, just click on the moves below.

 

 

 

Congratulations!  You are now a Swallow Tail Master!  Teach some one you know how to visualize this checkmate.  And let me know if you find an unusual mate.  Maybe it hasn't been named!

 

 

Ms. Martin, who I imagine is not too far away even now, will return next week with more tricks and checkmate patterns.  Au revoir!  (Pronounce:  ah re VWAH!)