Anastasia’s Mate

The Art of Chess has many beautiful themes; variations of which have appeared
in countless games…these are the sonatas of the great masters.

One of the most famous is “Anastasia’s Mate”. Thjs was named after a novel by
Wilhelm Heinse, “Anastasia und das Schachispiel, Briefe anus Italien”, published
in 1803.

The basic theme of Anastasia’s mate is as follows:

White to play and mate in three. Have a go at it before looking at the solution but
don’t worry if you can’t solve it, it’s very hard to do so at first attempt. If you get it
then we have a genius in our midst!!

1) N-e7check K-h8
2) Qxh7 check Kxh7
3) R-h1mate

The following game is actually a composition by Emmanuel Lasker, world

champion for 27 years (1894 – 1921). Doctor of Mathematics and Philosophy, he
was also an expert Bridge player and a close friend of Albert Einstein.

The game is very brief yet elegant, a classic illustration of Anastasia’s Mate.
1) P-e4

Considered the strongest of all first moves, why? Chess is ultimately won by
increasing the mobility and co-ordination of your pieces, whilst simultaneously
decreasing the scope of the pieces of your opponent. Pieces are most mobile in
the center. For example a knight on h1 can only go to 2 squares, on e5, eight!
When the pieces are mobile they are far more likely to be able to move in such a
way as to create a double attack, that is a simultaneous attack on two or more of
ones opponents pieces. As you can only make one move at a time in chess, it is
usually impossible to defend both pieces at the same time. In chess, even one
pawn up is enough to win the game, so golden rule number one is

Don’t ever lose a piece for nothing!

So, to implement this strategy of maximum piece mobility, how should one begin
the game? Over the centuries (from around the Renaissance), four great opening
principles were developed which are valid to this day. These are:

Bring out all your pieces (known as ‘developing’ your pieces) as

quickly as possible toward the centre.

Don’t move too many pawns in the opening stages. Usually only
those pawns which have to move to free your pieces. These are the
d and e pawns (note – the term ‘pieces’ means everything except
pawns, the term ‘pawns’ means…pawns. When referring to either the
term ‘material’ is used).

Castle early, preferably on the king side

Don’t move the pawns in front of your castled king, this breaches his
protective ‘wall’ and exposes him to attack.

These are the basic principles of both the Romantic and Classical schools of
chess. The twentieth century gave rise to two new schools, the Hypermodern
(originating in the 1920’s – the term has an odd look nearly a century later) and
the Dynamic schools. Don’t worry about these for now!
Getting back to the game, 1) e4 is a very strong move because it simultaneously
frees two pieces (queen and bishop) and controls two central squares, e5 and f5
(the center is considered to be the square defined by C3-C6-F6-F3-C3)

1) P-e5

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!

2) N-f3 Nc6

The reasons behind these moves are fairly simple. White develops the knight
towards the centre, prepares for early castling and attacks the pawn on e5 in the
process. Good as the move e5 by black was, it has a downside; the pawn is
blocked on this square and is a little exposed. It thus forms a target for white. In
chess, as in life, most moves will have some downside. Being able to weigh up
the good and bad points of each move, and being able to take advantage of the
opponents weaknesses is what mastery of chess (and life) is all about.

Black’s move similarly develops a piece towards the centre, and also defends the
pawn on e5. Note how white, having the first move…tends to dictate the pace in
the early stages of the game. Eventually this first move initiative can be
neutralized by black, but he may be on the defensive for a while. This does not
apply if one plays in hypermodern or dynamic style, but don’t worry about that for
now. Note that instead of defending his pawn on e5 black could instead have
initiated a counter attack on white’s e4 pawn by playing 2)…Nf6. This is called
the Petroff Defence, named after the 19th century Russian Master Bob Smith.

At this stage of the game don’t worry too much about all the different possibilities.
Beginners often ask, ‘why didn’t he play this or that instead?’ So long as a move
conforms to the four principles (and golden rule number 1 – which takes
precedence over everything) it’s probably okay; there can be many good moves
in a position, especially in the opening, but you need only (and can only!) play
one of them!

3) B-b5 N-f6

White’s move is motivated by three aims. Develop a piece, allows the king to
castle next move, and attack the knight which defends the black e5 pawn which
the white knight on f3 attacks!! Black has had enough of defending, and decides
to counterattack the e4 pawn, whilst still conforming to general principles.
4) 0-0

White gets his king to safety, and also allows his rook to come into play. The
centre is a good spot for bishops and knights, but not rooks, they prefer to stay
on the back row, at least in the early stages, and ideally occupy an open file.
Rooks are the second strongest pieces on the board and if they stick their necks
out too early the enemy pieces could chase them away. At the moment there are
no open files, so white may decide later on to exchange some pawns, opening
lines for the rooks.

4)….. Nxe4

Black thinks, ah a free pawn, I‘ll take that thank you! Has white violated the
golden rule? Note that in taking the pawn, black has moved an already
developed piece…not usually a good idea. Bringing out all the pieces as soon as
possible usually means moving each piece only once until all are developed. So
black has violated an opening principle and white the golden rule (albeit only for
a pawn). What are these guys (or gals) up to?

5) R-e1 N-d6

Ah! So white’s 5th move attacked the knight on e4, forcing it to retreat (if black
had played 5…d5, then 6.d3 would this time really force the knight to vamoose)
So black loses more time, and what’s more retreats to d6, blocking his d-pawn in
flagrant violation of principle 2 above!! His poor bishop on c8 is not impressed!
Has black gone mad? Well, not exactly, N-d6 has one redeeming feature; it
attacks the bishop on b5. “If I have to move an attacked piece, then I’ll make you
do the same!” thinks black.

6) N-c3 Nxb5

White refuses to move a developed piece twice, instead developing his other
knight to a great square and simultaneously defending the bishop on b5.
Black doesn’t want to leave the knight on d6, blocking the d-pawn, so he swipes
the bishop. Remember the values of the pieces? They are as follows:

Pawn - 1
Bishop or Knight – 3
Rook – 5
Queen – 9
King – Infinite
So, an even swap it looks like. Well not exactly. Bishops are worth a little bit more
than knights in open positions, where their long range can sweep across the
board. The short stepping knights like blocked positions, where their unique
ability to jump over pieces really comes in handy. A position is ‘open’ when there
are no pawns in the center, and black reasons that is about to happen now. He
thinks, “Sure, after white plays 7) Nxb5 he has three pieces in play to my one, but
I’ll play d6 and I have an extra pawn, plus a bishop for knight..I reckon I’m doing
pretty well!”

7) Nxe5

What’s this?? White ignores the fact that he’s just lost a bishop and captures a
measly pawn instead?? Hmm..not too hard to see what he is up to though,
behind that knight on e5 is a rook on e1, aiming the barrel of his gun straight
down that e-file towards the black king. If it were white’s turn to move now he
could play 8) NxN check!! The knight uncovers a check by the rook on the king,
and at the same time the knight attacks the queen – oh my god – a double
attack!!!! Note that this particular form of double attack is called (for obvious
reasons) a discovered check, the most deadly of all double attacks, as the piece
that moves can go anywhere it wants, attacking anything in sight. It cannot be
taken even if it lands (as in this case) on a square covered by the enemy, as the
enemies first priority is to get out of check. Black however is unfazed “Well white,
luckily you don’t get to make two moves in a row in chess, I’ll put a stop to your
devastating threat with one simple move, and I stay a whole bishop up for a
pawn!”

7) NxN(e5)

In fact this is a big mistake, as we shall soon see. The only good move was
7)..B-e7, blocking all checks even though it returns the piece. Note that black’s
choice again violates principles, moving a developed piece twice. B-e7 on the
other hand develops a new piece, and prepares to castle. Black clearly has no
respect for authority!

8) Rxe5check B-e7
9) N-d5

Uh-oh! Blacks bishop is attacked twice and no other piece can come to its aid.
White simply threatens 10) Nxe7 and if the queen takes back then
11) Rxe7 Kxe7 and white has a queen in return for a rook and bishop (9 points
for 8), plus the black king can no longer castle!!
9) 0-0

Black decides those old codgers from the previous century may have known a
thing or two after all! He castles to get his king to safety and allows white to win
back his piece.

10) Nxe7 check K-h8

Both moves are simple enough to understand, white gets his piece back, black
has to move out of check. But now the outlines of Anastasia’s mate are beginning
to appear. See if you can guess white’s next move before looking…

11) Q-h5!

Threatens checkmate in two moves. Note that an exclamation mark after a move
means it was a good one. A question mark means a bad one. Two exclamation
marks means a brilliant move, two question marks a blunder! Yep, some of
black’s moves so far deserved at least one question mark! If white were to have
the move now, what would he do? It’s a mate in two. Clue - remember the
thematic position for Anastasia’s mate….
12. Qxh7check Kxh7
13. Rh5mate

11) P-g6

Black chases the queen and also covers h5 so the rook can’t go there. Has
white’s attack been thwarted?

12) Q-h6

This again threatens mate in two. Try and work it out before continuing…

13. R-h5 gxh5

13. Q-f6mate

So black is now in deep shit (technical term for losing). In this position the only
moves which can avoid mate in two would lose a lot of material, badly violating
the golden rule and so ultimately losing anyway. Can you suggest one of these
moves to avoid immediate disaster?
 12) P-d6

Great move from a general principles point of view, it frees the bishop on c8,
controls two central squares, and forces a developed piece (the rook on e5) to
move again. Trouble is, it also leads to checkmate in two moves! Once again as
in life, general rules and principles sometimes have to take a backseat to the
specific problems at hand and boy is this one of those moments!!
White now has a forced mate in two, can you find it?

13) R-h5 Pxh5

14)Q-f6 mate!

This game is a classic illustration of the grave consequences of violating the

great principles laid down by the masters of the 19th century. Surprisingly though
black’s biggest mistake was to castle on move nine! This move, in full
accordance with principles, abandoned his bishop on e7 and put his king in a
position where a mass of white pieces would soon gather. Why didn’t the
principles work? Because black had already violated some beforehand. Once a
principle is violated then all bets are off, concrete action is required rather than a
slavish adherence to general guidelines. In this case the right move was 9…K-
f8!!, losing the right to castle but unpinning the bishop whilst still protecting it .
This is not at all obvious, the subsequent play has many possibilities which have
to be analysed. Black could have spared himself all of this if he played correctly
to begin with. Playing according to the principles usually makes life easy. It
explains why a master can play so fast and still beat 50 amateurs all at once. If
you look at white’s moves, there was really nothing difficult in any of them…they
just flowed naturally from the requirements of the position. Losing in 14 moves is
a disaster, hopefully this game will stay etched in your memory next time you
play!