Do you know the famous opening trap I call the "Hastings h-file Mate"? It is a pattern that can be reached from
many different openings. See game below. Forty years ago I memorized many openings variations. Such
memory work gives you a great practical edge when
you can choose in advance how you wish to play vs the most popular early moves.
I memorized all 14 moves of this game. I thought knowing many traps would lead to easy wins. It sometimes does. But recognizing tactical patterns is much more effective.
Probably I found this in Irving Chernev's book "
300 Winning Chess Traps". At first, I thought this game came from Dr. Emanuel Lasker's book "
Common Sense in Chess", a series of lectures that Lasker gave in London in the spring of 1895. I cannot find this mate there.
The mate is illustrated here in the Ruy Lopez line played at Hastings in 1919. A generation earlier, the same opening line was played in
Maroczy-Marco, but Black played more solidly, not allowing the mate. I call it the
"Hastings h-file Mate".
Let me set up the board and explain how this mate works. This checkmate theme is a variation of the
back rank rook mate. Here the mate is done
on the h-file with the help of a knight and queen sacrifice, prior to the rook mate.
Here's what to look for:
Black has castled kingside with a normal Rf8, Kg8 and pawns on f7, g7 and h7; however the typical Nf6 has moved away and does
not cover h7.
Ready for the combination?
White begins with
1.Ne7+, driving the Black king from g8 to h8. There follows
2.Qxh7+ forcing Black to capture Kxh7. Finally White slides over to the h-file for mate:
3.Rh5#. Black's king has no moves since he has a pawn on g7 and the Ne7 covers g8 and g6.
Berryman-Straat, Hastings 1919 begins
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.Re1 [The Open Ruy Lopez is almost always played 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6]
6...Nc5 7.Nc3 [7.Bxc6 dxc6 8.Nxe5 leaves White with a better pawn structure while Black as two bishops.]
7...Nxa4 8.Nxe5 Nxe5? [8...Be7 9.Nd5 0-0 10.Nxc6 dxc6 11.Nxe7+ Kh8 12.Qh5 Be6 13.Rxe6 fxe6 14.Ng6+ Kg8 15.Nxf8 Qxf8 16.Qg4 Nb6 17.Qxe6+ Kh8 18.b3 Re8 19.Ba3 Qxf2+ 20.Kxf2 Rxe6 21.Re1 Rxe1 22.Kxe1 1/2-1/2. Maroczy-Marco, Budapest 1896]
9.Rxe5+ Be7 10.Nd5 0-0 11.Nxe7+ Kh8 12.Qh512...d6 [This allows the thematic mate, but there is no playable defense. 12...g6 13.Qh4 and White is going to win a lot of material. 12...h6 13.d3 and White threatens to rip open Black's kingside with 14.Bxh6 winning.]
13.Qxh7+ Kxh7 14.Rh5# 1-0
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