Page "Smothered mate" Paragraph 3

For a smothered mate of this sort to occur in a game, it is usually necessary to sacrifice material to compel pieces to smother the king – a player is unlikely to voluntarily surround his king with pieces in a position where a smothered mate is possible.

One method is particularly common – an example is to be found in the game between Jan Timman ( White ) and Nigel Short ( Black ) at the 1990 Tilburg tournament.

From the diagrammed position, play continued 27. Nf7 + Kg8 28. Nh6 + Kh8 29. Qg8 + Rxg8 30. Nf7 #.

The procedure is: check with the knight, then move the knight away to deliver a double check from the queen and knight, then sacrifice the queen to force the rook next to the king, then mate with the knight.

( Note that White would force mate even if his rook, and his pawn on e7, were removed from the board, and Black had a knight on f6.

In that case, 27. Nf7 + Kg8 28. Nh6 + Kh8 ( 28 ... Kf8 29. Qf7 #) 29. Qg8 +!

Nxg8 ( or 29 ... Rxg8 ) 30. Nf7 still mates.