Grandmaster Assassin Mates

Thought I’d start a thread with GM Assassin Mates.
I’ll kick off with this work of art from Alekhine which you
will find fully annotated in his 1908-1923 collection.

GM's tend to resign rather than get mated so feel free to add one
if it shows a GM resigning rather than being Assassined by a pawn.
If the game is too long then just give the critical final bit.

Apollon Viakhirev - Alexander Alekhine Russia 1908

GP,

it's remarkable that a lot of your examples of assassin mates are opened with the same pawn that produces the mate. Coincidence or not?

Furthermore, I see the discovered check, but I have no clue how this can be exploited in a forced win after Ke1.

Thanks!

HI Tvo

It must just be a coincidence, but who knows perhaps 1.e4 e5
is the secret Assassin Opening.

If the King walks into a discovered check then it's a total carve up.


33.Ke1 Bh4+ 34.Kd1 Bxf2 Black is winning easily.
What does White do here? There are too mant threats and the ex-assassin
pawn on f3 is only two moves from a coronation.

I would think that it is not a coincidence that that opening pawn is often the assassin pawn.

For example in this last game, 5 of blacks pawns never moved off their home squares. So they are unlikely to be the assassin pawn. This would require chasing the king to the other side of the board, which is rare.

So this leaves the remaining 3 pawns. So right there, not every pawn has an equal chance to be an assassin.

Since the first pawn move is often 2 squares (especially with white), this gives the assassin an extra advantage as well. Other pawns might be in supporting or defensive capacity, or never moved at all. But the first pawn move is often an offensive move.

These are the little types of advantages in life that Malcolm Gladwell talks about in his book Outliers that turn people into superstars. For example most Professional Hockey players are born in months like January, Feb, March instead of later months like November and December. This gives them the advantage of being bigger than the other kids their same age when playing as children. This small edge can carry them ahead of others all the way into being an adult.

Being the first pawn moved gives that pawn that small advantage in life in one day of becoming an assassin!

Originally posted by TimmyBx
These are the little types of advantages in life that Malcolm Gladwell talks about in his book Outliers that turn people into superstars. For example most Professional Hockey players are born in months like January, Feb, March instead of later months like November and December. This gives them the advantage of being bigger than the other kids their same age ...[text shortened]... irst pawn moved gives that pawn that small advantage in life in one day of becoming an assassin!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=merron/081208

Here is an article where Malcolm Gladwell goes into more detail during an interview about the Hockey Players being born at the beginning of the year phenomenon. Pretty interesting stuff!

I'm a Pittsburgh Penguins fan myself 🙂