Most Mates In One From An Actual Game...

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Geoff Chandler
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Most Mates In One From An Actual Game...

Post by Geoff Chandler » Sat Dec 21, 2019 12:50 pm

...albeit from an internet game.

I was recently sent this game ending in this position. (white to play)



White has 9 ways to give mate in one (incredibly the double-check 25.Nf3+ does not mate!)

The lad who sent it was wondering if this was a record from an actual game.

I have seen composed positions where there are over 100 mates in one. But this is from a game.

Anybody beat that and what is highest number of mates in one available from an OTB game?

The full game. White eventually opted for 25.Nf7 mate.


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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Most Mates In One From An Actual Game...

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Sat Dec 21, 2019 5:04 pm

Maybe one of those times when you're glad the loser doesn't resign sooner after all?
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Most Mates In One From An Actual Game...

Post by Geoff Chandler » Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:09 am

Hi Matt,

Don't resign, opponent will lose on time deciding which mate to give. (I have a preference for Bf2 mate)

Recall a note to an old game saying a player had a choice of 4 or 5 different mates in one...cannot quite catch it...

The way things work in a few days It will pop into my mind when I'm thinking about something else.

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John Clarke
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Re: Most Mates In One From An Actual Game...

Post by John Clarke » Sun Dec 22, 2019 5:14 am

Geoff Chandler wrote:
Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:09 am
Don't resign, opponent will lose on time deciding which mate to give.
Remember the COKO chess program from 1971? Couldn't decide which of several mates to administer (they weren't all in one either, apparently) and ended up losing. No-one had told it how to choose among equally favourable options.
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Most Mates In One From An Actual Game...

Post by Geoff Chandler » Sun Dec 22, 2019 11:17 am

Hi John,

I used that as the basis for a short story about a bank clerk playing chess on a computer at work.
The computer had a choice of a Bishop or Knight mate but could not make up it's mind.
It started borrowing memory from the bank system which in turn leaked into other systems....eventually it shut down Switzerland.

I did not play mate in one once because I thought here.



18.Re1+ was also mate. (it was a 1994 allegro) 18...Be6 OOPS!

19.Rxe6+ Kf7.

Then had a panic...calmed down and dug out the win.



Recently knocked back a mate in one (26.Qd8 mate) in a recent net game for a neat mate. Could not resist it.


Simon Rogers
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Re: Most Mates In One From An Actual Game...

Post by Simon Rogers » Fri Jun 12, 2020 7:57 pm

I've had 5. Basic position against a person of beginner standard. Black had king on a8 and white had king on b6 and Queen on f7.