Powerplay 1 - Mating Patterns - King

Powerplay 1 - Mating Patterns, aims to acquaint the viewer with some of the most common mating patterns through analysis of positions in games where those patterns actually occurred. As GM King indicates early in the DVD, Recognizing the early outlines of mating patterns is a vital skill, both offensively and defensively.Very often we see the see these checkmates when they are put before our eyes: on a puzzle page in a chess magazine, for example. But then we must ask ourselves, why do these kind of mating combinations occur time and again in games - at all levels? In an actual game, when we are distracted by other factors - positional, strategic, tactical and psychological, not to mention our old friend time pressure - it is all too easy to miss these mating combinations. No one stands behind us whispering 'Stop! It is mate in 3' (unless you are cheating and someone has flicked on Fritz.) Moreover, these critical moments often occur late in the game - generally near the time control.