Amateurs for mateing with an elephant and a horse usually try TWIX.

But the harsh pros who are interested in hardcore are acting on Deletan's recipe.

TWIX method

Disassembled in the previous article, the Twix method has a long history. Francois Philidor , the Frenchman who laid the foundations of the modern understanding of chess, came to the maneuver of a horse in the shape of the letter W as early as the 18th century. In the next century and a half, various authors of chess monographs paid matte to an elephant and a knight a certain amount of attention, but this scattered knowledge was not a complete methodology.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Polish grandmaster David Pshapyurka systematized all the available information and since then this methodology has remained unchanged to this day. Practically in any book where attention is paid to this ending, this method is described.
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After another century, the children's chess trainer Yar Sanych (in the world, Yaroslav Aleksandrovich Prizant) introduced the successful name TWIX, so that the kids with more pleasure would learn this mat. The well-known pedagogical method - children learn new material better if it is associated with something fun, pleasant, familiar.

Knowledge of the TWIX method allows, by and large, not to bother much, pushing the frown king into the corner. It is enough to simply advance and, limiting the free space, to drive it into any, and if necessary, on the edge of the board, transfer exactly to the one you need. “Twix” is well suited for blitz: the name of the method is mnemonic and allows you to quickly recall what its essence is, even if the player has not trained in this mat for a long time the edge of the board is in the form of a capital vowel I , and an elephant, if not standing on the edge, is always controlled by two crossed diagonals in the form of the letter X ).


Click on the picture to go to the article with the TWIX method analysis.

This allows you to checkmate without bothering with detailed calculations and to some extent allows for some inaccuracy in implementation - in which case, if you notice in time, you can quickly correct the consequences of a careless move.

However, if you want something more fundamental, more serious - you can master it in terms of overall development ...

Deletana Triangles Method

The strongest side in general does not allow the opponent to hide in a safe corner, and immediately sends it to the matte corner with precise moves.

The first draft of this method dates back to 1780, which is somewhat later than the time when Philidor told in his book about the zigzag movements of a horse. In the February issue of the French chess magazine "La Stratégie" of 1923, an article entitled "Mating with an Elephant and a Horse" was published by Daniel Deletan , a Frenchman who lived in Argentina. The article provided an exhaustive analysis of the end.

The method did not receive special distribution, for the following reasons:

1. Requires quite a more accurate calculation than the Twix method. Especially it concerns the maneuvers with an elephant and a horse - you need to weigh each turn, otherwise the king will get out of the matte web and you will have to start all over again.
   
2. The opponent has a big chance to immediately whisk into a safe corner. From him, just in the course of the game, the matted king may be too close, and the enemy figures are too far away. The strongest side simply does not have time to build the desired structure. Then on the application of the method, by and large, can not speak.
   
3. Longer than Twix. Yes, yes, not only easier, but also faster to drive into a safe corner, and then overtake to a matte corner than to drive them to a matte corner with verified maneuvers.
   
4. There is no time for implementation. In the pool / blitz / rapid, in fast chess, just in time trouble - especially there is no time to count. But the TWIX method allows you to lightly checkmate on hanging flags, while not going into much detail about the position.
   
5. There is no power to implement. In a serious tournament game at such a late stage (deep endgame), it is possible that there is time for analysis - if time control has passed. However, after the previous many hours of struggle, the parties may approach this position in a state of physical and moral exhaustion.

The chance of getting an endgame "knight and elephant mate" is in itself extremely small. If this happens after all, the chances that the Deletan method will not be used, but the Deletana method, turn into nothing at all. The parties are unknown to me, although in the game with a computer one can run a lot of equipment in order to make sure that it works effectively.

A reasonable question: why then learn the method at all? In principle, no one forces. But if you learn the method of Deletan, then:

rightly feel yourself a connoisseur of secret chess techniques,
You will be thinner and deeper to understand the game,
finally understand the principles of interaction between an elephant and a horse,
feel the amazing board geometry
play truly academic chess .

Main steps

For simplicity, we assume that the strongest side is white, their elephant is light-squared. White pushes the black king into the upper left corner. Of course, the alignment of colors and angles can be any other, but in order not to confuse the explanations, we’ll dwell on this version.


Matted king is kept within three rectangular triangles, nested into each other. We call them as external, medium and small triangles. The total right angle is in the field of the same color as the elephant.

From larger triangles, crowding into smaller ones occurs. First, the king is transferred from the outer triangle to the middle one (this is the most difficult stage), then from the middle one to the small one (after which the checkmate is put).

To keep the opponent inside the triangle, it is necessary to control the black-and-white cells in the area of ​​the hypotenuse of the figure. The elephant controls half of these fields, almost all the rest are usually a horse, and the king, if necessary, remains.

Of this trinity, almost all activity lies with the king, who almost alone is engaged in repression. The horse and the elephant for the most part of the action still stand in their positions, putting an irresistible barrier in front of their rival, while being completely safe.

On these three diagrams, from left to right, it is shown how whites fully control the outer, middle and small triangles respectively.

Clipping from safe angle

Before building any triangles, it is necessary to make sure that the king in question does not dive into one of two safe corners (these are angles whose color is opposite to the color controlled by the elephant). Sometimes it is required to find literally an etude solution in order to block this possibility for the weaker side.

It is not always possible to do it in time, and if the lonely king managed to temporarily slip away, then he would have to smoke out of a safe corner by the TWIX method.

Outer triangle

This is the widest triangle, you have to use both the elephant and the horse and the king to control the hypotenuse.

The task of the elephant and the horse is to control its sections and, at the first opportunity, reorganize by moving from the outer to the middle Deletana triangle.

The task of the king - controlling his plot, pushing the enemy into a dull corner.

The diagram shows the so-called ideal location of the elephant and the horse. In principle, these figures can stand differently and at the same time also put an insurmountable wall in front of the enemy king. However, if the horse and the elephant are too far apart, the task of pushing it into a corner becomes quite difficult.

Islands of security

If the elephant and the knight are unsuccessful, then for the black king may appear areas on the edge of the board where he will feel calm.

	The diagram shows the situation when White managed to construct an external triangle, however it is not obvious how to go to the middle one. The elephant and the horse created an insurmountable barrier, but the black king simply remains on three fields marked with a different gray color. While the horse is busy guarding the black fields on this side, it is impossible to force the black king from his “island of security”.
	To solve the problem, you need to transfer the king to the black fields on the right and shift them to their guard. A horse in two jumps to send to guard the black fields on the left flank. In this configuration, whites can already push the black king to the side of the dull corner.
	Black can head towards the bishop and the knight in order to rotate the same trick - dig in on the new “island of security” near the light pieces. While the black king is on the way, White manages to transfer the bishop to the next diagonal and go to the middle Deletana triangle.
	In the middle triangle, driving a lonely king to a frosted corner is much easier.
	If the king tries to escape through the right flank, then the horse in two jumps will block the far outs.

Perfect parking

A horse / elephant can have a very different mutual arrangement when they control almost the entire hypotenuse. In this case, the horse is placed on the field of the same color as the elephant. In this way, a group of fields of both colors is jointly controlled. Fields outside their area of ​​action takes the king.


However, for the outer and middle triangles there are so-called ideal sites. Here they are:

Ideal parking is remarkable in that it allows you to transform the outer triangle into medium (or medium into small) at the first opportunity (with just one bishop move).

Middle triangle

The hypotenuse is noticeably smaller and, in principle, only elephant and horse are enough for complete control over it (provided that they are in perfect stands ).

The White King is entrusted with the task of pushing. If the elephant and the horse are not perfect , then they should be regrouped while their leader covers the temporary gaps that have arisen.

There is no longer any hope for the “islands of security” of the black king - too little space. White, without the slightest hassle, is squeezed into a corner, reducing the size of the triangle to the minimum. Everything is much easier than in the case of an outer triangle.

Small triangle

The hypotenuse is so small that it is easily controlled only by an elephant and a king, without the participation of a horse.

The horse also performs the final movement in order to come up from the right side and finally finally checkmate.

Mat

Requires a certain accuracy in this case, so that inadvertently there is no pat.

When the king is securely locked in the corner, he can put a checkmate in any of the possible dozens of ways. If the ending is played in deletansky, then by itself one of two options is obtained:

1. A horse with a check drives the king into a corner - the elephant mates.
   
2. An elephant with a check knocks the king out of the corner - a horse mates.

For example, if a situation arose as in the diagram above, the scenario depends on whose turn it is now:

White to move: 1. f6-d7 + b8-a8 2. a6-b7 ×.
Black's move: 1. ... b8-a8 2. a6-b7 + a-b8 3. f6-d7 ×.

Summary algorithm

In view of the foregoing, it is possible to summarize the optimal order of actions that allows you to mate with an elephant and a knight using the Deletan triangles method.

1. Clipping the lone king from a safe angle. Such an opportunity is not always the case if the mated king is much closer to a safe angle than the figures of the strongest side.
   
2. Construction of the outer Deletana triangle. If the isolation from the saving corner is successful, the strongest side builds the first version of the outer triangle as quickly as possible in order to fence the opponent into the desired area of ​​the board.
   
3. Transfer of a horse and an elephant to ideal positions in the outer triangle of Deletana. Most likely, the position of the elephant and the horse will not be the best, so these two figures are regrouping in the right way. The process is backed by a king, who controls the cells through which a fouled king could break out of a triangle.
   
4. Pushing the lone king from the hypotenuse of the outer triangle to the edge. The horse and the elephant stand on their ideal sites, and their monarch bravely goes to meet his opponent.
   
5. The transition from the outer triangle to the middle. When the mated king moved away from the center, the elephant gets the opportunity to change the diagonal.
   
6. Transfer of a horse and an elephant to ideal positions in the middle Deletana triangle. Again, you need to transfer the horse and the elephant to the ideal position. During the transition period, the king monitors the cells of the hypotenuse, from which control is temporarily removed.
   
7. Pushing the lone king into a frosted corner. A horse and an elephant hold the perimeter from their ideal positions, their king advances, taking space from his counterpart.
   
8. The transition from medium to small triangle. After the frown king is in the very corner, the elephant moves to a new diagonal.
   
9. Matting The elephant and the king do not allow the weak side to leave the corner, the horse for the mat is brought.

We will go some other way.

You should not think that chocolate and Delétan ways are all possibilities to mate with an elephant and a horse. Sometimes chess knights in torment and suffering give birth to their own way in order to shove a naked king into a dull corner.

E. Gufeld - S. Palatnik , Tbilisi Championship, 1973.

The party was accompanied by scandalous antics of expressive Gufeld and ended not only with obscenities, but also with a brawl with beating faces and breaking the board on the opponent's head . Semyon Palatnik had not previously studied the ways of this mat, however, even being under the pressure of his opponent’s unsportsmanlike behavior, he managed from scratch to invent his own mechanism for converting to a dull angle.

L. Lyuboevich - Y. Polgar , blind match, Monte Carlo, 1994.

Hungarian very confidently led the king to the desired angle in the style of Deletana (although the similarity is not observed at all stages). This makes it all the more impressive, given the fact that the players did not use the board and simply called each other's moves - the battle was purely in the minds of the opponents.

D. Harika - Tan Zhongyi , semi-final of the Women's World Chess Championship in Tehran, 2017

Indian chess player once taught the basics, but forgot the details. While her coach, behind the scenes, feverishly drank carvalol, Harika pulled out time, made dozens of aimless moves and unsuccessfully recalled what had to be done. Still, I remembered the letter T, smoked my rival from a safe angle, and even started a W-trajectory for a horse. But then something went wrong, it almost let the king out of the networks, but somehow she cornered (and then had to improvise) and with grief in half mated. Until the “rule of 50,” only a couple of moves remained, the Chinese team was already preparing to appeal the draw.

Online training

The author of the GlukKazan chess simulator added the ability to directly indicate the location of the pieces in the link, which allows him to give positions where White manages to build the Deletan outer triangle. Click on any of the diagrams if you want to practice.



In the upper left corner of the board there is a button to cancel the previous moves. So, if you missed the black king's flight from the triangles, then you can rewind the game.