New Bughouse Blog First Page

 I have decided to keep this one simple.  Checkmates and the mistakes that led up to them.  Eventually I hope to classify them. 

I have started a smothered mates page here.

1. Mate in the Centre: This wonderful mate was made possible with a nice feed from partner Metofistocles.  Actually I was wondering how I would use two rooks but I found the answer:

I think this was a key mistake.  Here he played e5 instead of taking my attack seriously.  e6 might be okay.  I am a big believer in an early e6:

Q@e8+ is a particularly lovely move.

2. Mate on f7: Here my partner thoughtyouwon is mating:

My philosophy is that the black king belongs on e8 or g8.  Here the king would be in danger with Qe8+.  But he doesn't do much better by taking on f7:

This looks like his last chance on the right board, to avoid weakening his kingside. He might trade queens.  If I play Qe7 on the left board, my opponent would then have Q@c8+.  Then on the right board, black defends with @f6.

3. Mate threat of Q@d1 protected by a knight on c3:

Here he is going to give his queen and give me a tempo to put my second knight on c3:

I don't like how my opponent played the opening.  p@b4 works for me.  Many players will give up the knight immediately, or move it to b5 and let it be trapped with a6.  Sometimes they play e5.  I am happy to play Ng4.  They then play Ne4.  Their knight can be driven away with d5 and then I play Nxf2 and I am happy.  If he plays N@f6+, he wins my queen for two knights whereas I get his queen for one knight.

4. Mate threatened on both boards:  I think it was mainly because of how we won material on both boards:  

I have a thought on how my opponent first opened his kingside.  The g7 square is often key, therefore h6  is often key, even if you don't castle.  N@g8 looks very stodgy, but it may have been better than what actually happened to black.

5  A cheapo mate.  Cheapo mates sometimes work against weak players.  So guess what happened here:

17. Nxf3 exf3, 18. Qxf3 @e4 (attacking instead of defending) 19. Qxf7#

6. Mate on the a-file:  Here my partner played R@a1.  I thought it was a mistake because I didn't see the a8 rook on the open file.

I would like to look at how white lost his b-pawn.  It started when black put a pawn on a3.  This is similar to an attack on h3 against kingside castle, but more deadly.  For one thing, a1 is open for a queen.  The other is that an enemy pawn or bishop on b2 checks the king whereas an enemy pawn on g2 generally does not.