The Arabian Mate Pattern Revisited

White to move and mate in 2

Many moons ago, I posted about the Arabian mate pattern. It's fairly easy to spot and can occur in a lot of games. Chess patterns often repeat and if you're familiar with them, then tactical solutions will come easily.

My game was pretty boring as usual in the London System opening where Black can equalize easily but the London doesn't require me to memorize lines and the moves come naturally so it's a great opening (for me) in blitz where time is important.

After the moves 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 { D00 Queen's Pawn Game: Accelerated London System } Bf5 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. c3 O-O 7. Nd2 c5 8. Ndf3 cxd4 9. exd4 Nc6 The game is pretty much dry with White having a slight advantage owing to his hold on the e5 square.

The game continued with 10. Be2 {passive, Bd3 or Bb5 is better} Ne4 11. O-O Ne7 12. h3 f6 13. Nd3 Bxf4 14. Nxf4 Qd6 15. Nd3 Rac8

Black has kicked my Knight out of the e5 square but left his e6 pawn weak. In this position I wanted to remove his best piece, the Knight on e4. 16. Nd2 Nxd2 17. Qxd2 e5 18. dxe5 fxe5 19. Rfe1 e4 20. Nf4 Ng6

Black blundered and lost a pawn 21. Qxd5+ Qxd5 22. Nxd5 Rcd8 23. Rad1 Rd6 Another blunder. White could win by Ne7+

I missed it because I was already eyeing the e3 square as a nice outpost for my Knight and played Ne3 immediately. 24. Ne3 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Nf4 26. Bc4+ Be6 27. Bxe6+ Nxe6 28. Rd7 Rb8 29. Nf5 g6

After Black's last move, the f6 square was undefended and I already recognized the pattern. Black can easily defend against it but my opponent was unaware of the threat. 30. Nh6+ Kh8 31. Ng4 Nc5 32. Rc7 Nd3

White to move and mate in 2

The position above was reached 33. Nf6 {There is no defense against the impending mate} h5 34. Rh7# { White wins by checkmate. } 1-0

Link to game https://lichess.org/L3I9VuFy