Boden's Mate

Chess diagram|=
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Schulder–Boden, London, 1853
= 8 | | |kd| |rd| | |rd|= 7 |pd|pd|pd| | | |pd|pd|= 6 | | |nd| | | | | |= 5 | | | |bl| |bd| | |= 4 | | | | | |pl| | |= 3 |bd| |pl| |bl|ql| | |= 2 |pl| | |nl| |pl| |pl|= 1 | | |kl|rl| | | |rl|= a b c d e f g h
The final position after 15...Ba3#

Boden's Mate is a checkmate pattern in chess.

It is named after Samuel Boden, who delivered the first known example of this mate in Schulder-Boden, London, 1853, a Philidor's Defense. The moves of that game were 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 f5 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.d4 fxe4 6.dxe5 exf3 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.gxf3 Nc6 9.f4 Bd7 10.Be3 O-O-O 11.Nd2 Re8 12.Qf3 Bf5 13.O-O-O? (13.Bd5 is better) 13...d5! 14.Bxd5?? (moving into a forced mate; much better is 14.Rde1) 14...Qxc3+ 15.bxc3 Ba3#, giving the final checkmate position shown in the diagram: the king is mated by the two criss-crossing bishops, and blocked by two friendly pieces.

The same pattern has occurred in many games since, usually, as here, after the losing king has castled on the queen-side, and the winner sets up the mate by a queen sacrifice on c3 or c6. More rarely, the mate can occur, for example, (a) where a White bishop on g6 delivers mate to a Black king on e8, which is hemmed in by a White bishop on a3, and its own queen on d8 and knight on d7 or (b) where a bishop on h6 delivers mate to a Black king on f8, which is hemmed in by a White bishop on c4, and its own queen or bishop on e8 and knight on e7.Chess diagram|=
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Canal–N.N., Budapest, 1934
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| |kd|rd| | |nd|rd|=
pd|pd| |nd| |pd|pd|pd|=
| |pd| |pd| | | |=
qd| | | | | | | |=
|bd| |pl| |bl| | |=
pl| |nl| | |ql| |pl|=
|pl|pl| |bl|pl|pl| |=
rl| | | |kl| | |rl|=
Position in the Peruvian Immortal after 10...O-O-O??Perhaps the most famous example of Boden's mate is the so called Peruvian Immortal game, Canal-N.N., simultaneous exhibition, Budapest 1934: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Bf4 e6 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Bb4 9.Be2 Nd7 10.a3 O-O-O?? 11.axb4! Qxa1+ 12.Kd2! Qxh1 13.Qxc6+! bxc6 14.Ba6#

12...Ne5 was a slightly better try, but White still mates quickly after 13.Bxe5! (13.Rxa1 Nxf3+ 14.Bxf3 gives White a won ending after 14...Rxd4+ 15.Ke3 Rxb4 16.Rxa7 or 14...a6 15. Ne4!) 13...Qxh1 (13...Rxd4+ 14.Bxd4 Qxh1 15.Bxg7 +-) 14.Qxf7 Ne7 15.Qxe6+! Rd7 16.Bg4 Rhd8 17.Qd6 forcing mate.