The Coolest Smothered Mate I've Seen in a While


So I was randomly watching a bullet game between a grandmaster and another high-rated player on Lichess but I wasn't completely paying attention to most parts of the game. And so before I knew it, the game had already finished and I saw the final position which baffled me a bit. But then I looked at it carefully and marveled at the sight of a beautiful checkmate which you will find shown above. As can be seen, White's king is boxed in by several of his pieces, most of which have been pinned. The knight delivers the fatal blow with a very picturesque finish with Black's rook, knight, and bishop lined perfectly, somewhat imitating their starting positions.

To see how the mating net was executed and how White got themselves in this situation, here is the full annotation of the game:

If you just want to focus on this particular mating net, then you should start from move 43 and from there, you will see how White had found himself being caught in a trap of his own making. Of course, you may check out the rest of the game to see what happened and what lead White in this crushing defeat and gave Black the chance to execute a cool checkmate.

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