At the time, I didn't know what any of these mates were. Yessir, 1800+ player and I'd never even heard of them. Astounding.
I have since created a set on chess tempo dedicated to various mating motifs. I'm nearly an expert on Anastasia's Mate at this point.
Spoiler! Please don't look at my answers until you have completed them yourself!
Diagram 1-1
Okay, this really threw me off at first. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I think it's because you switch from attacking horizontally to attacking vertically.
Wow, that seemed a lot easier the second time through. Not sure how I didn't find it the first time. Weird.
Diagram 1-2
My first instinct is rook e5, but I wonder if he can start playing ...Rd7 and ...Qe7 to stop me. Actually, no, he cannot stop it. Pretty simple.
Diagrams 1-3 and 1-4
I knew instantly upon sight, though I didn't see the 3. f3 line in the latter. Thank you chesstempo.com.
Diagram 1-5
Tricky. Once I figured out where the knight needed to end up, it wasn't hard.
Diagram 1-7
Brilliant move by Steinitz. I thought I was so clever having found it as well, but I overlooked the Kg2 line for white. Dang!
Diagram 1-9*****
Uh oh. I am seriously stuck on this one right now. I understand the theme. I know I need to get rid of that knight somehow, but...ugh! What am I missing??
Oh, wait...maybe the threat is what really matters here. If I can get to the d2 square, I win the exchange (or else he lets me mate him). But it's guarded by the bishop. So if Nxd4...if B takes back, Nd2! And objective met. But if exd4, then the light-squared Bishop is hanging after Nxc3, winning a piece.
Actually I don't win the exchange, I just win a piece no matter what, because if white's Bishop takes, then after Nd2, the white queen moves, then Nxf3 followed by mate. So he must take with the pawn. Then I win a piece. Sweet!!
In the next chapter, page 23 in my edition, Yusupov states:
***** means I need to create a flashcard since this is obviously a sticking point for me.
Diagram 1-11*****
So I figured out everything up until White's last move...ugh! Another quiet queen move. Didn't see it. I had found Qh6 instead, which doesn't work because of Rf7, which Yusupov even mentions.
Diagram 1-12 was super easy, while 1-13, the final one, I found ridiculously difficult and way beyond my ability to solve. Sure, I found the first move, but after that it became so complex I would never have found all those variations over the board. If I could have done that, I'd already be a Master-strength player!
Time for the test positions, aka "Exercises."
Exercise 1-1
Super easy. Instant recognition.
Exercise 1-2
So I remember this really confusing me the first time I did it. This time I recognized it within like 2-3 seconds.
By the way, when I recognize them instantly like this, I don't bother setting up the board, because in just looking at the problem I already know the solution. So there's no point.
Exercise 1-3
Same here. Classic Boden's Mate with forced mate in two. Super simple.
Exercise 1-4
Another one that wasn't easy initially, but now I can spot instantly. This is a good sign. It tells me that the patterns have indeed stayed with me and have become automatic.
Exercise 1-5
Again, same. This was hard initially. But I remembered in under five seconds. Either gets mated or gives up the queen. A line not shown is if white plays Kh1. But this changes nothing. Qxh2# either way.
Exercise 1-6
Again. Almost instant recognition. If Kg8, it gives Rxg7#. Qxg7 is also mate here.
Well thank goodness so far none of the test exercises have been as difficult as some of the chapter examples!
Exercise 1-7
Took me a little longer--like ten seconds--to solve, but I consider that completely fine.
Exercise 1-8
Solved right away.
Okay, I just realized that, up until now, they have all been one-star exercises. He assigns them 1-3 stars based upon complexity or difficulty in solving. It's also an indication of how many points they are worth. Please note that the chapter exercises themselves are not rated--just the end-of-the-chapter test exercises.
Exercise 1-9 (two stars)
Okay, I just spent 5-10 minutes or more on this. It stumped me, but only because I was looking for a clear, winning line. If black plays best, it just leads to a quiet line where "White is also winning" due to better piece activity and being a pawn ahead. Fine. I was looking for something that was more of outright win. My fault. So I actually did see the "winning" line; just thought it wasn't enough to be the correct answer.
Exercise 1-10 (three stars--uh oh!)
Solved nearly right away. Maybe 20-30 seconds. This stumped me the first time I tried it, but wow, what a cool solution. Very pleased to have remembered it.
Exercise 1-11 (two stars)
Solved instantly.
Exercise 1-12
Too easy.
My Score: 16/16 points. "Excellent"
To be perfectly honest, I'm repeating the chapter if I score anything less than excellent.
Conclusion
So diagram 1-9 taught me something. Sometimes the threat alone is worth it. In this position, black was able to win a piece because of the threat of mate. I had initially tried finding a way to make the actual mate happen no matter what.
Diagram 1-11 will become a flashcard mostly because it's a calculation exercise. I needed to do better and see the correct killing blow at the end of the sequence.
Exercise 1-9 taught me that clear, overkill advantages are not always the outcome. Sometimes you are just winning in a rather simple position. While I had still found the solution, I hadn't realized it at the time because I had been searching for some more winning.
Otherwise I'm very satisfied with my results here. I remember initially struggling with many of these test exercises, but having gone through them again (several months later, actually nearly a year!) proved to me that my brain has indeed assimilated the patterns.
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