Checkmates

"Checkmates" in a Sentence (2 examples)

The talented young chess player is very bold. He deliberately lays himself open to attack, makes himself vulnerable and then checkmates his opponent when least expected.

White: rook on a1, pawn on b6, king on c8. Black: pawns on a7 and b7, king on a8, bishop on b8. White puts the opponent in zugzwang by playing the rook to a6, after which Black has only two options: take the rook on a6 or move his bishop to any other square on the diagonal b8-h2. In the first case, White advances his pawn from b6 to b7 and checkmates. In the second situation, the white rook takes the black pawn on a7, with the same result.

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