Raking Bishops Mate Examples

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Raking Bishops Mate Examples
Compiled by ChessCoachClark

The Raking Bishops Mate features two Bishops (or a Bishop and Queen) that are next to each other and showing their power on adjacent diagonals. Therefore, this mate pattern is quite distinct from the Boden's Mate ("Criss-Cross Mate"). When the attacking side's King is close enough, these Bishops are sufficient for the checkmate, but normally some helpers are involved.

The Raking Bishops Mate is my colorful name for the Horwitz Bishops, which honor Bernhard Horwitz (1807-1885). This mate pattern may also be called Doubled Bishops, Parallel Bishops, Slashing Bishops, Tandem Bishops, and other names. However, "Harrwitz Bishops" is a mistaken reference to a contemporary of Horwitz, Daniel Harrwitz (1821-1884). Both of these adept chess players were born in Germany and they played many games against each other.

Three examples of these Bishops are given by Nimzowitsch in his book, MY SYSTEM, pages 148-149 (where "Horwitz Bishops" was given). Here is one of the them:

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There are many games with Raking Bishops that are not included at ChessGames.com yet, but my favorite is a Raking Bishops Mate carried out by a Pawn and a Bishop, amazingly:

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Agrest, Evgenij - Agrest, Svetlana
Cutro ITALY 2007 29 moves 1-0

ChessCoachClark (CCC) originated this game collection and he updates it on occasion. This project is a work in progress, culling games from various sources, including several chess training books and personal research. The games are ordered by date (oldest first), not by importance.

Be well.
Be safe.

Anderssen vs Dufresne, 1852
(C52) Evans Gambit, 24 moves, 1-0
Lasker vs J Bauer, 1889
(A03) Bird's Opening, 38 moves, 1-0
Continuation is a Raking Bishops Mate using the Queen.
Steinitz vs V Martinez de Carvajal, 1889
(C25) Vienna, 25 moves, 0-1
E Sobernheim vs S A Langleben, 1895
(C13) French, 25 moves, 0-1
Rotlewi vs Rubinstein, 1907
(D32) Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch, 25 moves, 0-1
Nimzowitsch vs Tarrasch, 1914
(D30) Queen's Gambit Declined, 32 moves, 0-1
Alternative move 30. ... Be3 would have won the Queen
Schlechter vs Rubinstein, 1918
(C28) Vienna Game, 57 moves, 1/2-1/2
Alekhine vs Euwe, 1921
(D32) Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch, 20 moves, 1-0
Q sacrifice paves the way for the Raking Bishops Mate at EOG.
W Springe vs H Gebhard-Elsass, 1927
(A46) Queen's Pawn Game, 13 moves, 1-0
29... Bh4 Double Barrel Bishops force trade of Bishop for Rook
S Belavenets vs V Makogonov, 1937
(A15) English, 41 moves, 0-1
Fine vs M Riello, 1937
(D02) Queen's Pawn Game, 31 moves, 1-0
Queen makes the Raking Bishops Mate complete
V Mikenas vs S F Lebedev, 1941
(D50) Queen's Gambit Declined, 28 moves, 1-0
Denker vs A J Fink, 1946
(A45) Queen's Pawn Game, 27 moves, 1-0
N Novotelnov vs A Chistiakov, 1949
(A40) Queen's Pawn Game, 22 moves, 0-1
Raking Queen and Bishop wins Queen (removing guard)
F Benitez vs Euwe, 1949
(B20) Sicilian, 19 moves, 1-0
Raking Bishop and Queen unleash checkmate; Deflection earlier
Fischer vs J Bennett, 1957
(B60) Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer, 40 moves, 1-0
Botvinnik vs Portisch, 1968
(A22) English, 26 moves, 1-0
Short vs Timman, 1987
(C19) French, Winawer, Advance, 39 moves, 1-0
Raking Bishops threaten mate by White Queen often
Adams vs W Stanton, 1993
(C89) Ruy Lopez, Marshall, 32 moves, 1-0
Queen and very close Pawn make the checkmate
Kramnik vs NN, 1999
(A35) English, Symmetrical, 16 moves, 1-0
Aided by Pawn obstruction, two Bishops bring the checkmate
J Houska vs A D Harley, 2001
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 57 moves, 1-0
Raking Queen with Bishop in impending mate
Krasenkow vs Karpov, 2003
(E12) Queen's Indian, 29 moves, 0-1
Bologan vs Movsesian, 2005
(D11) Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, 25 moves, 1-0
Game ends with a Raking Bishops Mate.
U Kersten vs S Minor, 2016
(C10) French, 14 moves, 1-0
24 games

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