
And this is me on lounging on the beach reading a CHESS magazine.

Inside the magazine on the puzzle page was this one.
Le Tuan Minh - D. Paravyan, Internet Blitz 2023 (White to play)
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1.Bf1 but White played 1. Kh2 Rh1+ and Bishop or King takes on h1 is stalemate.
Some RHP games from this year ending in a needless Stalemate.
Tinashe Mutsungi Shoko - TonyLey RHP 2023 (Black to play)
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56....h1=Q Stalemate. A Rook also stalemated but another Bishop or Knight wins.
kingbaz2 - S h a n e RHP 2023 (White to play)
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63.cxb5 stalemate. 63. axb5 and it is checkmate in three moves.
TheTyranny - ssaulius RHP 2023 (Black to play)
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Black played 71...Rc7 and White should not have played 72. Rxc7 stalemate
First we look at the forced drawing line, then how White could have won..
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1. | Kd5 | Rd6 |
---|---|---|
2. | Ke5 | Re6 |
3. | Kf4 | Rf6 |
4. | Kg4 | Rg6 |
5. | Kh5 | Rg5 |
6. | Kh6 | Rg6 |
7. | Kh5 | Rg5 |
+2
But White can win this and to show you I’ll need to bring in Endgame Ernie.

20 years ago I threw away all my chess pieces except for the Kings, Rooks and Pawns.
What fun I have been having studying these endings. I love endings. I married a woman
called Matilda Endsworth and when me and ‘Matty’ had a daughter we named her Lucena.
Get on with it you nerd, else I’ll put you back in the box.
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1. | Kd5 | Rc7 |
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2. | Rh8 | Kxa7 |
3. | Rf8 | Rh7 |
4. | Rf4 | Kb6 |
5. | Ke6 | Kc6 |
6. | Kf6 | Kd6 |
7. | Kg6 | Rh8 |
8. | h5 | Rg8 |
9. | Kf7 | Rh8 |
10. | Rf6 | Ke5 |
11. | Ra6 | Rb8 |
12. | h6 | Rb1 |
13. | h7 | Rh1 |
14. | Kg7 | Rg1 |
15. | Rg6 |
+2
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1. | Ra6 | Kf5 |
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2. | h6 | Kg5 |
3. | Kg7 | Rb8 |
4. | Ra7 | Rb6 |
5. | h7 | Rg6 |
6. | Kf8 | Rf6 |
7. | Kg8 | Rg6 |
8. | Rg7 |
+1

Thank you Ernie and finally we play a guessing game.
How many games played so far in 2023 do you think ended with a Knight checkmate?
148 under 10 moves. In total there are 3,662 Knight checkmates.
A lot of the games under 10 moves are Legall’s Mate for both colours.
prgin - Lamor RHP 2023
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6.Nxe5 Bxd1. 7.Bxf7+ Ke7 8.Nd5 mate.
jrpapa - jebedo6391 RHP 2023
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6...Nxe4 7.Bxd8 Bxf2+ 8.Ke2 Nd4 mate.
Here are two more Knight Mates, one with each colour.
Gavin Hughes - Steeve1 RHP 2023
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1. | c6 | Ne2 |
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2. | c7 | Ng1 |
3. | Kc6 | h3 |
4. | Ne4 | h2 |
5. | Nd6 |
0
Andrew Lovett - Kmt RHP 2023
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1. | Ka1 | Nd4 |
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2. | Nc5 | Ka3 |
3. | Nd3 | Nc2 |
+1
The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 197860