Mate with K+N

This game received a great deal of notice some years back but not for the normal reasons but for a new kind of mate which gave us a new name (or old) in the literature. Stama's mate. (possibly Stamm) check the last eight moves or so.

[Event "ch-CUB"]
[Site "Las Tunas CUB"]
[Date "2001.04.14"]
[EventDate "2001.04.01"]
[Round "12"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Jesus Nogueiras"]
[Black "Maikel Gongora"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2557"]
[BlackElo "2417"]
[PlyCount "165"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Qd1 g6 6. e4 Bg7
7. Bd3 Nf6 8. Nge2 Ng4 9. f3 Nge5 10. O-O Be6 11. b3 Nxd3
12. Qxd3 Qd7 13. Bb2 O-O-O 14. Qd2 f5 15. exf5 Bxf5 16. Ng3
Bd4+ 17. Kh1 Qg7 18. Rad1 Be5 19. Ba1 h5 20. Nd5 Bxa1 21. Rxa1
h4 22. Nxf5 gxf5 23. h3 Ne5 24. f4 Nc6 25. Rae1 Rde8 26. Rxe8+
Rxe8 27. Re1 Qh8 28. Qf2 Rxe1+ 29. Qxe1 a5 30. Kh2 Kb8 31. Qc3
Qd4 32. Qxd4 Nxd4 33. g4 c6 34. Ne7 Kc7 35. Ng6 b5 36. Nxh4 a4
37. Nxf5 Nxb3 38. cxb5 cxb5 39. g5 Nc5 40. g6 Ne4 41. g7 Nf6
42. Ne7 Kd7 43. Nd5 Ng8 44. f5 Ke8 45. Nc7+ Kf7 46. Nxb5 d5
47. Kg3 Kxg7 48. Kf4 Kf6 49. h4 Ne7 50. Nd4 Ng8 51. Ne2 Ne7
52. Ng3 a3 53. h5 Ng8 54. Nf1 Nh6 55. Ne3 d4 56. Nd5+ Kf7
57. Kg5 Kg7 58. f6+ Kh7 59. Kf4 Nf7 60. Ke4 Kh6 61. Kxd4 Kxh5
62. Nb6 Kg6 63. Nd7 Nh6 64. Kd5 Kf7 65. Ke5 Ng4+ 66. Kf5 Ne3+
67. Kg5 Nc4 68. Kf5 Ne3+ 69. Kf4 Nd5+ 70. Kg5 Ke6 71. Nc5+ Kf7
72. Ne4 Ke6 73. Kg6 Nf4+ 74. Kh6 Nd5 75. Kg5 Nxf6 76. Nxf6 Ke5
77. Nd7+ Kd4 78. Kf4 Kc3 79. Ke3 Kb2 80. Kd2 Kxa2 81. Kc2 Ka1
82. Nc5 Ka2 83. Nd3 Ka1 84. Nc1 1-0

😵

For a little background colour: (borrowed, shamelessly, from a somewhere else)

ArturoRivera: Brilliant!!!, white should have felt like the god chess by winning this. Just imaging

After 80.-Kxa2, black was calm, -i got a draw at least, i must be good to have get out of this difficutl position i had-, finally he asked white: draw?. White stares at the position a while, maybe ten minutes, no answer, silence in the room, some spectators pass watching the games from those strong tournament boards, they dont even pass a minute with them, -a sure draw- they assume. Then Nogueiras just laugh, calmy, impressed maybe by his own idea, perhaps Gongora dont know why, -draws are funny? he said, he smiled too. after 2 more moves Gongora stop smiling, he is staring at the board, astonished, cant believe it, he seeks all probabilities, watch all variants and his smile suddenly dissapear. his hand trembles, slowly directs to it, the clock stops, the room in silence...

The name is Stamma and apparently occurs in endgame studies with some frequency.

Originally posted by Renars
[pgn][Event "ch-CUB"] [Site "Las Tunas CUB"] [Date "2001.04.14"] [EventDate "2001.04.01"] [Round "12"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Jesus Nogueiras"] [Black "Maikel Gongora"] [ECO "A21"] [WhiteElo "2557"] [BlackElo "2417"] [PlyCount "165"] 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Qd1 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. Nge2 Ng4 9. f3 Nge5 10. O-O Be6 11. b3 Nxd3 12. Qxd ...[text shortened]... 3 Kb2 80. Kd2 Kxa2 81. Kc2 Ka1 82. Nc5 Ka2 83. Nd3 Ka1 84. Nc1 1-0[/pgn]

Originally posted by lausey
Beat me to it. I was about to do the same thing. 🙂

One last shamelessly borrowed comment and I'll shut up about it:

Peligroso Patzer:

According to the following tablebase (for positions with six or fewer units, including Kings): http://www.k4it.de/index.php?topic=... , Black was lost as least as soon as he sacrificed his Knight for White's f-pawn (75. ... Nxf6). The point, I think, is that White will either be able to outflank Black’s King (using the Knight for tempo moves, if needed) and win the a-pawn (after which King plus Knight plus Rook-pawn versus lone King is an easy win) or make sure his Knight is on a light square at the time Black plays … Kxa2. Here are some representative variations: 77...Kd6 78.Nb8 Ke5 [78...Kc7 79.Na6+ Kb6 80.Nb4 Kb5 81.Nc2 Kc4 (81...Ka4 82. Kf4 and Black’s King must leave the defense of the a-pawn and allow 83. Nxa3) 82.Nxa3+ Kb4 83.Nb1 ] 79.Na6 Kd5 80.Kf5 Kd4 81.Kf4 Kd3 82.Ke5 Kc4 83.Ke4 Kb5 84.Nc7+ Kc6 85.Nd5 Kc5 86.Ne3 Kb4 87.Kd4 Ka4 88.Kc4 Ka5 89.Kb3

Originally posted by kuoni
No matter, as long as it got posted. Have you found any other games with this form of mate? (K+N)

Originally posted by kuoni
No matter, as long as it got posted. Have you found any other games with this form of mate? (K+N)

How the hell did you shorten the text?

That is a brilliant game. It's as if the King is about to willingly step off of a cliff at the end.

lausey:

Oh.

Originally posted by lausey
Beat me to it. I was about to do the same thing. 🙂