Back rank mate practice

Nakamura-Shulman, 2010 U.S. Championship

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Black to play and win

Do these easy mating patterns have any practical application in grandmaster play?  Well, it helps to be able to spot the pattern many moves in advance.

Here's a somewhat more difficult version of the same problem.

Nakamura-Shulman, 2010 U.S. Championship

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Black to play and win efficiently

1...Nc6 does win for Black (why?), but it's not the fastest method.