Thursday, July 25, 2019

Changed mates after same defenses in three-movers

Changed mates have been considered one of the most exquisite artistic expressions in two-movers. The reader may find an excellent presentation of two-movers with changed mates in this OzProblem article by Peter Wong: Zagoruiko.

Naturally, chess composers tried to express this idea in longer problems as well. The first successful rendering of the idea dates back in the 19th century, when Stanislav Trčala published the following composition:


Trčala, Stanislav
Zlatá Praha 1897

#3 9 + 7

Show Solution

Here there are even three changed mates after Black defenses 1… Ke5 and 1… Kc5.
Of course, White continuations are checking and some mates are model, according to Bohemian school principles.
A slight blemish is the triple mate in the threat, although the quiet second move is highly enjoyable.