Answers.Body: <p>There are a fair number of lines toward the end that make the fact that mate is forced a little hard to spot, but it's certainly doable. A couple example lines:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[FEN "r1bqk2r/ppp3Bp/2n5/8/1b2p3/1P2n1P1/P4PBP/RN1Q1KNR w kq - 0 0"]
  
  1.Ke2 (1.fxe3 Qxd1+ 2.Kf2 Qe1#) Qxd1+ 2.Kxe3 Qd3+ 3.Kf4 Bd6+ 4.Kg5 Qd5+ 5.Kh6 Bg4 6.Bxh8 (6.Be5 Qxe5 7.Bxe4 Bf8#) Qh5+ 7.Kg7 Qg6#</code></pre>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>As for learning to spot these mates yourself, part of the trick is recognizing that Black's pieces are hugely more active than White's, especially after the White Queen is gone. Black should look to control the White King's movement easily with the two Bishops and the Queen, and mate is surely inevitable. Finding the <em>fastest</em> mate is always nice, but at the end of the day, any line will do as long as it doesn't provide an opportunity for White to escape!</p>
  
  <p>When calculating mating lines (or any combination), it's easiest to look for <em>forcing</em> moves: moves which leave the opponent with only a single move, if possible. This naturally limits the number of lines you have to calculate. Good candidates for forcing moves are checks, or other threats which must be dealt with immediately. For instance, I found the line above by simply evaluating, at each step, the move that gives White as few resulting choices as possible. Even <code>5...Bg4</code> is a forcing move, because it threatens immediate mate via <code>...Qh5</code>.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T20:31:38.633Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-10-28T22:19:10.703Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2014-10-28T22:19:10.703Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Henry Keiter
Answers.Body: <p>Here you are. Obviously <code>1. fxe3</code> is mate in two...</p>
  <pre><code>
  [fen "r1bqk2r/ppp3Bp/2n5/8/1b2p3/1P2n1P1/P4PBP/RN1Q1KNR w kq - 0 13"]
  
  1.Ke2 Qxd1 2.Kxe3 Bc5 3.Bd4 Bxd4 4.Kxe4 Qc2 5.Kd5 Qd3</code></pre>
  <p>followed by mate in next move</p>
  <h1>edit</h1>
  <p>Regarding to comment below:
  It's about calculating of course. A matter of practise. First of all, you should calculate all the forcing moves: checks and captures. Try to imagine how the mate (final position) would look like. Those are my small advices:) Anyway I think that this position is not a good example at all. See, in this position you're going to take white's Queen. I wouldn't bother myself counting all up to mate. Why would I? The game is already over, doesn't matter if I mate in 6 moves or in 9.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T20:39:03.317Z
Answers.Text: Good try, but you should also explain HOW to go about finding that checkmate, which is what the OP wants to know.
Answers.UserDisplayName: NM Wesley Falcao
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T21:02:10.373Z
Answers.Text: Good point, getting back to edit!
Answers.UserDisplayName: Pijotrek
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T22:27:44.113Z
Answers.Text: +1 for the *Anyway I think that this position is not a good example at all. See, in this position you're going to take white's Queen. I wouldn't bother myself counting all up to mate. Why would I? The game is already over, doesn't matter if I mate in 6 moves or in 9.* part.
Answers.UserDisplayName: AlwaysLearningNewStuff
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T20:20:20.957Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-10-23T21:11:08.250Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-06-17T09:59:59.497Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Pijotrek
Body: <pre><code>
  [fen "r1bqk2r/ppp3Bp/2n5/8/1b2p3/1P2n1P1/P4PBP/RN1Q1KNR w kq - 0 13"]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I was playing a game where I got to this position as black on lichess.org - the analysis said that checkmate was unavoidable for white and it was a mate in 7. I played with it some more but I can't see the mate in 7. </p>
  
  <p>I wonder what should be my approach to checkmating efficiently? Is it just by playing more games or are there some tips I should know?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T20:10:57.693Z
Comments.Text: Whose move is it in the diagram? White's? To clarify, you mean that Black can mate White in 7, yes?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Henry Keiter
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T20:18:34.297Z
Comments.Text: @HenryKeiter, it's obviously White's move :)
Comments.UserDisplayName: NM Wesley Falcao
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T20:19:55.520Z
Comments.Text: @Wes ...I noticed that Black would have an obvious mate in one if it were his move, but somehow not that White is in check. D'oh!!
Comments.UserDisplayName: Henry Keiter
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T21:41:28.447Z
Comments.Text: Note that in chess terminology "endgame" refers to the stage of the game in which neither player has many pieces. Despite the fact that the game should end soon, this is still a middlegame.
Comments.UserDisplayName: dfan
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T23:10:55.580Z
Comments.Text: It is a lot easier to find them when you know they are there.  Look for forcing moves.  It is rare that you can give the opponent a free, unrestricted move and still deliver a mate.  Look at every check.  Mate in 7 (full) moves would be pretty rough to find in the general case.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-23T23:17:46.497Z
Comments.Text: But ultimately you just have to calculate.  You can see pretty easily that `1. fxe3` fails to `1... Qxd1+ 2. Kf2 Qe1#`. So the King heads to `e2`, instead, and now you just have to solve it. Don't give him room to make a real choice. `1. Ke2 Qxd1+ 2. Kxe3 Qe1+ 3. Kf4` etc etc
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-29T17:55:11.993Z
Comments.Text: neither side has completed development, so this is still in the opening
Comments.UserDisplayName: prusswan
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-30T15:14:01.067Z
Comments.Text: I changed the title because I was constantly opening this question thinking there's a new question about endgames (as @dfan commented) I have missed.
Comments.UserDisplayName: JiK
Tags: <checkmate>
Title: What should be my approach to checkmating efficiently?
ThreadText: # What should be my approach to checkmating efficiently?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-10-23)
  
  [fen "r1bqk2r/ppp3Bp/2n5/8/1b2p3/1P2n1P1/P4PBP/RN1Q1KNR w kq - 0 13"]
  
  I was playing a game where I got to this position as black on lichess.org - the analysis said that checkmate was unavoidable for white and it was a mate in 7. I played with it some more but I can't see the mate in 7. 
  I wonder what should be my approach to checkmating efficiently? Is it just by playing more games or are there some tips I should know?
  Thanks
  
  **Tags:** checkmate
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Whose move is it in the diagram? White's? To clarify, you mean that Black can mate White in 7, yes?  
  > **username_2**: @HenryKeiter, it's obviously White's move :)  
  > **username_1**: @Wes ...I noticed that Black would have an obvious mate in one if it were his move, but somehow not that White is in check. D'oh!!  
  > **username_3**: Note that in chess terminology "endgame" refers to the stage of the game in which neither player has many pieces. Despite the fact that the game should end soon, this is still a middlegame.  
  > **username_4**: It is a lot easier to find them when you know they are there.  Look for forcing moves.  It is rare that you can give the opponent a free, unrestricted move and still deliver a mate.  Look at every check.  Mate in 7 (full) moves would be pretty rough to find in the general case.  
  > **username_4**: But ultimately you just have to calculate.  You can see pretty easily that `1. fxe3` fails to `1... Qxd1+ 2. Kf2 Qe1#`. So the King heads to `e2`, instead, and now you just have to solve it. Don't give him room to make a real choice. `1. Ke2 Qxd1+ 2. Kxe3 Qe1+ 3. Kf4` etc etc  
  > **username_5**: neither side has completed development, so this is still in the opening  
  > **username_6**: I changed the title because I was constantly opening this question thinking there's a new question about endgames (as @username_3 commented) I have missed.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2014-10-23. Score: 5
  
  There are a fair number of lines toward the end that make the fact that mate is forced a little hard to spot, but it's certainly doable. A couple example lines:
  [FEN "r1bqk2r/ppp3Bp/2n5/8/1b2p3/1P2n1P1/P4PBP/RN1Q1KNR w kq - 0 0"]
  
  1.Ke2 (1.fxe3 Qxd1+ 2.Kf2 Qe1#) Qxd1+ 2.Kxe3 Qd3+ 3.Kf4 Bd6+ 4.Kg5 Qd5+ 5.Kh6 Bg4 6.Bxh8 (6.Be5 Qxe5 7.Bxe4 Bf8#) Qh5+ 7.Kg7 Qg6#
  
  As for learning to spot these mates yourself, part of the trick is recognizing that Black's pieces are hugely more active than White's, especially after the White Queen is gone. Black should look to control the White King's movement easily with the two Bishops and the Queen, and mate is surely inevitable. Finding the fastest mate is always nice, but at the end of the day, any line will do as long as it doesn't provide an opportunity for White to escape!
  When calculating mating lines (or any combination), it's easiest to look for forcing moves: moves which leave the opponent with only a single move, if possible. This naturally limits the number of lines you have to calculate. Good candidates for forcing moves are checks, or other threats which must be dealt with immediately. For instance, I found the line above by simply evaluating, at each step, the move that gives White as few resulting choices as possible. Even 5...Bg4 is a forcing move, because it threatens immediate mate via ...Qh5.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2014-10-23. Score: 2
  
  Here you are. Obviously 1. fxe3 is mate in two...
  
  [fen "r1bqk2r/ppp3Bp/2n5/8/1b2p3/1P2n1P1/P4PBP/RN1Q1KNR w kq - 0 13"]
  
  1.Ke2 Qxd1 2.Kxe3 Bc5 3.Bd4 Bxd4 4.Kxe4 Qc2 5.Kd5 Qd3
  followed by mate in next move
  edit
  Regarding to comment below:
  It's about calculating of course. A matter of practise. First of all, you should calculate all the forcing moves: checks and captures. Try to imagine how the mate (final position) would look like. Those are my small advices:) Anyway I think that this position is not a good example at all. See, in this position you're going to take white's Queen. I wouldn't bother myself counting all up to mate. Why would I? The game is already over, doesn't matter if I mate in 6 moves or in 9.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: Good try, but you should also explain HOW to go about finding that checkmate, which is what the OP wants to know.  
  > **username_7**: Good point, getting back to edit!  
  > **username_8**: +1 for the *Anyway I think that this position is not a good example at all. See, in this position you're going to take white's Queen. I wouldn't bother myself counting all up to mate. Why would I? The game is already over, doesn't matter if I mate in 6 moves or in 9.* part.  
  
  ---
  
  