by Oliver Reeh

'Mate parade', 'Mate combinations', 'Mate on the horizon' ... I think we've had all these headings in this column before, and at some point they're bound to be repeated. After all, finishing off the opponent's king is, and remains, the ultimate goal of a chess game, and in order to memorise the checkmating patterns and know how to use them successfully in your own games, only one thing helps: practise again and again!

We start with an oldie from 1899.

In Schlechter,C - Meitner,P White had driven the black king to h4 in order to finish - how?

29.Rxd7+! forced checkmate in 5 in Wachinger,N - Plat,V. Challenge: Calculate the variation in your head until the end!

You will probably quickly recognise the mechanism that leads to checkmate in 10 (!) in the variation position from Neuman,P - Sethuraman,S above.

For comparison, the 'real' game Neuman,P - Sethuraman,S. White's move gives him an advantage. Much more difficult, isn't it?

After 21.Rxf7! wins in Abrosimov,A - Kirpichnikov,V, because after 21...Rxc3 White has a killer move. Speaking of ...

After 24.Rxf7+! in Puranik,A - Nanjo,R it is interesting to see when White finally takes his queen's rook to f1.

The following variation from Di Berardino,D - Quintiliano Pinto,R deserves special mention,

in which the natural 16...0-0 allows a very rare winning motif!

We come to my favourites, presented as usual in the interactive Fritztrainer format.

In Schneider,J - Meins,G White led a 'picture-book attack' against the demolished black king position (correct, it was Dragondorf).

Try to solve this combination move by move with IM Oliver Reeh!

Kanov,N - Derige Kane,Y is something for friends of the queen-knight tandem.

'Attacking minimalism' is the title of this video

I'll end with two games at the very highest level, from the Shenzhen Longgang Masters 2024, with our top author Anish Giri suffering twice - I hope he'll forgive me.

In Giri,A - Erigaisi Arjun Black needed 'seven moves to win' from the diagram position.

Third interactive video with IM Oliver Reeh

Different coloured bishops favour the attacker - in Dubov,D - Giri,A White developed ...

... 'irresistible initiative' move by move – Video 4

'Mate is great' - with this in mind, have fun with the tasks!