A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns

Improve Your Ability to Spot Typical Mates

Vladimir Barsky

• Publisher: New in Chess
• eBook ISBN:
  9789056918897
• Year: 2020

Giving mate is the ultimate goal of every chess player. Finding that all-decisive combination is immensely satisfying. But how are you supposed to spot a checkmate when you are sitting at the board with the clock ticking?

In this guide International Master Vladimir Barsky teaches the method created by his mentor Viktor Khenkin (1923-2010). It’s based on an ingenious classification of the most frequently occurring mating schemes. A wide range of chess players will find it an extremely useful tool to recognize mating patterns and calculate the often narrow path to the kill.

All the 1,000 examples (850 of them in exercise format) that Barsky presents are from games played in 21st century. He has carefully selected the most instructive combinations and lucidly explains the typical techniques to corner your opponent’s king. More often than you would expect, positions that look innocent at first sight, turn out to contain a mating pattern.

This is not just another book full of chess puzzles. It’s a brilliantly organized course that has proven to be effective. Finding mate isn’t rocket science, but you need to know what to look for. Vladimir Barsky teaches you exactly that.

Table of contents

• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Explanation of symbols
• Foreword
• Chapter 1: The rook
• Chapter 2: The queen
• Chapter 3: The minor pieces and pawns
• Chapter 4: Two rooks
• Chapter 5: Rook and bishop
• Chapter 6: Rook and knight
• Chapter 7: Queen and bishop
• Chapter 8: Queen and knight
• Chapter 9: Queen and rook
• Chapter 10: Three pieces
• Chapter 11: Solutions