Thursday 3 October 2019

Back-Rank Mate

One of the most important mating motifs in crazyhouse (as in chess) is the back-rank mate. Unlike in chess, checks can be blocked in crazyhouse using pieces in hand, so getting the back-rank mate to work is a little more intricate. The final checkmate must either
  • be delivered by a rook or queen adjacent to the king,
  • smother the opponent king e.g. with a pawn on the 7th rank, or
  • exhaust the opponent’s pieces in hand.
These three can be illustrated in the following gif showing three possible continuations in a winning endgame between catask and CrazyAraFish (the actual game followed the second variation).


The best way to learn crazyhouse is through practice. So the following is a study of 31 back-rank puzzles carefully chosen to train different back-rank mating patterns, and getting progressively more difficult so despite being designed with beginners in mind, hopefully even advanced players can enjoy it. Play against the computer and see if you can deliver mate!


Understanding this mating theme will also help when you are on the defending side and need to recognise if you are susceptible to a back-rank mate yourself. If you are ready to see the solutions, they can be found in the following solution study:


If you prefer to sit back and watch someone else solve these puzzles live, then here was the live stream with the-lone-wolf where we explain the puzzles and the-lone-wolf solved them live on stream as well as contributing the final puzzle:



—okei

Acknowledgments: Many thanks to lishadowapps for having created the PGN Editor with which the gifs were made in this and my previous blog. Many thanks to the-lone-wolf also for helping to create the instructive video.

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