Checkmating Patterns

I recently added to my bookshelf A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns (2020) by Vladimir Barsky. This book extends the work of two older books that are scarce and therefore expensive: Victor Henkin, 1000 Checkmate Combinations (2011), and Mikhail Tal and Victor Khenkin, Tal's Winning Chess Combinations (1979). The latter two books were published in Russian sometime before the English editions came out. I have a hunch it was a single book with two English editions. Tal's introduction "Don't Re-invent the Wheel" in the 1979 text appears as "Don't Reinvent the Bicycle" in the 2011 version with some differences. 

I have a hardback copy of Tal's Winning Combinations that I bought in the past decade, but passed up a chance to buy the Batsford edition, 1000 Checkmate Combinations. My recollection of when and where I looked at it does not correspond to the publishing date because I think it was a few years before 2011. I failed to comprehend then the significance of my opportunity. There is a Kindle version of the Batsford edition. The diagrams are a bit pixilated, but clear enough on my iPad.

All of these books arrange checkmate patterns according to which pieces effect the execution of the enemy king. Barsky credits Viktor Khenkin, The Last Check with the "methodology" (7). A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns is wholly new. Barsky assembles illustrative positions and exercises exclusively from the twenty-first century. This one caught my eye this morning in the opening chapter.

White to move

The position arose in Lenderman,A. -- Gareyev,T., Mesa 2010. Lenderman played 30.Rd6 and Black resigned. The rook's interferes with the defensive contact between Black's queen and rook, threatening Qxb8#.  White's queen is safe from capture because of Black's weak back rank. Any move of Black's rook dooms the knight. Barsky gives 30...Rc8 31.Ra6 Nc4 32.Qxc4 Rxc4 33.Ra8+ with mate to follow (12-13).

A few years ago, when I was reading Tal's Winning Chess Combinations, I was struck by the quality of the examples. Barsky's examples also seem rich with possibilities. The book serves not only to teach elementary patterns, but also to stimulate the imagination.

Khenkin's original approach to discerning and organizing checkmate patterns is worthy of attention. It varies slightly in the three books that I have before me. Listing the table of contents of each of the three will serve to highlight the continuities while also marking slight differences in the approach.

Tal's Winning Chess Combinations Contents:

1. The Rook
2. The Bishop
3. The Knight
4. The Queen
5. The Pawn
6. Two Rooks
7. Queen and Bishop
8. Queen and Knight
9. Rook and Bishop
10. Rook and Knight
11. Two Bishops
12. Two Knights
13. Bishop and Knight
14. Three Pieces

1000 Checkmate Combinations Contents

1. The Rook
2. The Bishop
3. The Queen
4. The Knight
5. The Pawn
6. Two Rooks
7. Rook and Bishop
8. Rook and Knight
9. Two Bishops
10. Two Knights
11. Bishop and Knight
12. Queen and Bishop
13. Queen and Knight
14. Three Pieces

The first two books offer the same chapters, but the sequence differs. The content is similar, but the Batsford edition contains more exercises. In the new book by Barsky, the number of chapters is reduced by combining pawns and the three chapters featuring minor pieces into a single chapter.

A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns Contents

1. The Rook
2. The Queen
3. The Minor Pieces and Pawns
4. Two Rooks
5. Rook and Bishop
6. Rook and Knight
7. Queen and Bishop
8. Queen and Knight
9. Queen and Rook
10. Three Pieces