Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................... 5
Part 1. Basic Concepts............................................................................................... 9
Chapter 1. Threat of a Mate in One................................................................. 10
Chapter 2. Threat of a Forced Mate................................................................. 14
Chapter 3. Defending Against Mate Threats................................................. 18
Chapter 4. Satisfactory Defense........................................................................ 22
Part 2. Defense Against a Mate Threat. Counter-Strike............................. 28
Chapter 5. Forced Mate....................................................................................... 29
Chapter 6. Perpetual Check............................................................................... 32
Chapter 7. Stalemate Ideas................................................................................. 36
Chapter 8. Combinations.................................................................................... 40
Part 3. Defense Against a Mate Threat. Countermeasures Against Your
Opponent’s Pieces............................................................................................... 46
Chapter 9. Elimination........................................................................................ 47
Chapter 10. Combinations.................................................................................. 51
Chapter 11. Deflection......................................................................................... 57
Chapter 12. Combinations.................................................................................. 61
Chapter 13. Pinning............................................................................................. 67
Chapter 14. Combinations.................................................................................. 70
Chapter 15. Interference..................................................................................... 76
Chapter 16. Combinations.................................................................................. 80
Part 4. Defense Against a Mate Threat. Resources of Your Own Pieces......... 87
Chapter 17. Support............................................................................................. 88
Chapter 18. Combinations.................................................................................. 94
Chapter 19. Escape.............................................................................................101
Chapter 20. Combinations................................................................................105
Part 5. Mate Threats and Combinations..........................................................111
Chapter 21. Unstoppable Mate.......................................................................112
Chapter 22. Combinations................................................................................122

Chapter 23. Mate Threats Without Satisfactory Defense........................129
Chapter 24. Combinations................................................................................142
Chapter 25. Mating Combinations.................................................................150
Part 6. Apply Your Knowledge!..........................................................................164
Chapter 26. Test Yourself! Find the Mating Combination.......................165
Chapter 27. Test Yourself! Find the Best Defense Against the Mate Threat....180
Chapter 28. Test Yourself! Find the Best Continuation............................195
Solutions to Exercises..............................................................................................215

About the Author

Jakov Geller, born in Moscow in 1986, achieved the grandmaster title in 2011. Jakov has been one of Russia's top modern coaches since 2007 and his pupils have included grandmasters Ivan Bukavshin and Alexandr Predke, international masters Darsen Sanzhaev, Alexey Mokshanov and Rudik Makarian, and WGM Dinara Wagner (Dordzhieva). The Russian team that Jakov coached in 2009 took first place in the U16 Olympiad. He was named Children's Trainer of the Year in 2010 by the Russian Chess Federation. In 2021 he won FIDE's Samuel Reshevsky Award for the best achievement of a coach of a junior prodigy (U-14). Jakov has won prizes in over 20 Russian and international tournaments. He is the author of Grandmaster Ivan Bukavshin: A Chess Prodigy's Career in 64 Games (Elk and Ruby, 2020) and 1500 Forced Mates (Elk and Ruby, 2021).