Blackburne's Bishop and Knight Mate Part 1

Hiya!  Welcome to another sneaky checkmate trick!  Watch as Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl) shows you what you need to destroy a castled king using a knight and bishop.  This article has two parts so you can see first how to checkmate, and then where Blackburne got his original idea -- he crushed his opponent in 17 moves!

 

This sweet looking gentleman, Joseph Henry Blackburne, from England, was also known as THE BLACK DEATH.  Isn't that nice?!

First, if you are white, you will need:

• a bishop on the long diagonal a1-h8
• to make sure black does not have a dark-squared bishop
• black's g7 pawn to be missing or pushed forward
• a knight on a light square near the black king

 

Let's look at an example:

You can threaten checkmate or a nasty discovered check.

Where should the knight go here?

Here is a typical mating net.  If you threaten mate two ways, there is almost no stopping it!

Try this puzzle.  White to move and threaten mate or win material.

Click on the move list to see all of the options for both sides. 

Get it?  Pretty simple once you have the requirements.  Remember what they were?

1.  A bishop owning the long, dark diagonal.

2.  Missing g7 pawn.

3.  Knight that can infiltrate!

Stay tuned for more puzzles and a game!

Tip of the week:  See if you can name ten different types of checkmates.  Sometimes knowing a checkmate's name will help you remember the pattern, too.  Look back at some of the articles!