The Pawn’s Path
Workshop #6
Lesson Plan
30 minute chess games!
Start with 20 minute lesson
End off with an activity
Lesson 6
First, we have the Back Rank Mate. This type of checkmate commonly occurs when a king castles, and is now left behind three pawns. They act as a wall for the king to protect it, but it’s also trapped behind them. So, can anyone find a good move for Black that could win them this game?
The move was moving the rook to e1, and that’s an instant checkmate. This is because the horizontal squares for the White king are blocked by the Black rook, and the squares above the king are blocked off by its own pawns. Moral of the story, remember to move one of the pawns(like moving pawn to h3) to avoid checkmates like this.
This checkmate is called the Smothered Mate. Can you guess what move Black plays to secure a win?
The move was moving Black’s knight to f2, and the king is checkmated. Notice that many of these checkmates we’re showing are caused mainly by White making a mistake. They try to protect their king TOO much, but instead completely trap it inside White’s own pieces. So, remember to always give your king some space.
This checkmate is called the Anastasia mate, named after a popular book published in 1803. This one is a bit trickier, so can anyone spot the checkmate on White?
The Black rook slides over to h6, and since the rook blocks all of the vertical squares, and the knight blocks all of the other ones, it’s checkmate.
This checkmate involves a series of moves. Can anyone find the moves that checkmate White in an example of the Blind-Swine mate?
Black starts off with capturing the White pawn on the edge of the board, and checking the king in the process. Remember, White can’t capture the rook since its being defended by the other Black rook. White only has one option for their next move. Can anyone name it?
White can only move their king to g1, so that’s what they do. White seems like they’re trapped by their own pieces like the last checkmates(*ahem* the White rook on f1), so it looks like it’s in danger.
Anddddd… that’s checkmate. The other Black rook runs over and blocks the White king(with the help of the White rook on f1) and completely demolishes White’s king. All of these checkmates are for you to remember, but also to stay careful of, since if you accidentally slip up or forget about your king for a bit, your opponent may take advantage of that.
POISONED PAWNS
No, not that poisoned pawn. This pawn we’re talking about looks normal at the start, but when you take it, your piece gets trapped, and taken soon after. It is extremely hard to watch out for, because these pawns don’t look any different than normal pawns. Here’s an example of a poisoned pawn in action.
POISONED PAWNS
Can anyone spot White’s poisoned pawn in this situation(The pawn that if Black captures, it won’t go well for Black)?
POISONED PAWNS
The pawn is on a2! If Black captures the seemingly hanging(nothing defending it) pawn, White can do…
POISONED PAWNS
This! White moves their knight to a3 to block the rook from escaping in the a-file and becoming trapped in White’s territory. Remember, Black can’t capture EITHER of White’s knights, because they are both being defended by bishops. And even though Black’s rook has a lot of space in White’s territory, all of that space is guarded by other pieces.
POISONED PAWNS
Now, after Black plays a filler move since it can’t move its rook, White takes action. White moves their knight to c1 and attacks the Black rook. The rook can’t move anywhere, so it’s doomed.
POISONED PAWNS
Here’s a map of which piece is attacking a square the rook can move to if anyone needed help. The rook can’t move along the 2nd row because of the queen, the bishop, and the rook, and it can’t move along the a-file because of the queen and bishop. It can’t stay on the square a2 as well, since the knight is attacking it.
POISONED PAWNS
The rook tries to capture the knight in an attempt of desperado, hoping to at least get a piece before it gets captured.
POISONED PAWNS
And there you have it. White captures the Black rook. Since Black won a pawn and a knight and White won a rook(that’s hard to say), 5 points are more than 4 points, so White made a better trade overall using the poisoned pawn tactic to trick Black into capturing the pawn on a2.
Thanks for being with us on the sixth class!
30-MINUTE GAME TIME!
TIME FOR…
JEOPARDY!
Students will split into teams of two, and they can participate in the Jeopardy on chess trivia! Have fun :)