At Paris in 1933, Tartakower once heard a spectator say about one of Bernstein's games:

"Ces grands-maîtres placent leur[s] Cavaliers à é5 et après les mats découlent d’eux-mêmes!” dit en voyant cette catastrophe un spectateur grincheux."

In English:

"These Grandmasters place their Knights at e5, and then the mates follow by themselves!", said a grumpy spectator upon seeing this catastrophe."

Well, sometimes!

Here a list of games, where sometimes it's very good, sometimes it's very bad... can you tell what is going to happen? (We're treating the move ...Nf6-e4 by Black just the same.)

Click [...] to see a list of games

Mates follow by themselves

[Event "attack: knight on e5 (Budapest"]
[Site "attack: knight on e5 (Budapes"]
[Date "1896.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pillsbury, Harry"]
[Black "Winawer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D46"]
[PlyCount "41"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O {[#]}
8. e4 dxe4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Nf6 11. Bc2 h6 12. Be3 Re8 13. Qd3 Qc7 14. c5
Bf8 15. Ne5 {[#] A great move, even setting a little trap to distract the Bishop} Bxc5 16. Bxh6 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 gxh6 18. Qf4 Nd5 19. Qxh6 f6 20.
f4 Re7 21. Ng6 1-0

[Event "Hastings 7576"]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "1976.01.12"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Keene, Raymond"]
[Black "Miles, Anthony J"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D42"]
[WhiteElo "2505"]
[BlackElo "2435"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "1975.12.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1998.11.10"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e3 e6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd3 cxd4 8.
exd4 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Nf6 11. Bg5 Nb4 12. Bb1 b6 13. Ne5 
{This is so often a key move in isolated QP positions.  The Knight cannot be taken, and ...f6 weakens the King too much.  The Knight helps in a King's-side attack by threatening f7 and (as in this game) g6.  The Knight move also frees up the third rank...}
13...Bb7 14. Re3 {Using the third rank!} 14...g6
15. Rg3 Rc8 16. Bh6 Re8 17. a3 Nc6 18. Nxg6 hxg6 19. Bxg6 fxg6 20. Qb1 
{An odd-looking square, but the Queen cannot be attacked here, while it still attacks g6.}
20...Ne5 21.
dxe5 Ne4 22. Nxe4 Kh7 23. Nf6+ Bxf6 24. Qxg6+ Kh8 25. Bg7+ Bxg7 26. Qxg7# 1-0



[Event "URS-ch05"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1927.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich"]
[Black "Botvinnik, Mikhail"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A95"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "1927.09.26"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "20"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.07.01"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Nf3 d5 7. O-O c6 8. Qc2
Qe8 9. Bf4 Qh5 10. Rad1 Nbd7 11. b3 Ne4 {The equivalent move by Black} 12. Ne5 {Which Knight move is better?} Ng5 13. h4 Ne4 14. Bf3 Qe8 15.
Nxd7 Bxd7 {White's knight can find nothing better to do than swap off Black's worst piece!} 16. Kg2 Bb4 17. Bxe4 fxe4 18. Rh1 Qh5 19. f3 Qg6 20. Kf1 e5 21. dxe5
Rxf4 22. gxf4 Qg3 23. Nxe4 dxe4 24. Rxd7 Bc5 25. e3 Qxf3+ 26. Qf2 Qxh1+ 27. Ke2
Qh3 28. f5 Qg4+ 29. Kd2 Rf8 30. e6 Qxf5 31. Qxf5 Rxf5 32. Rxb7 Rf2+ 33. Ke1 Rf6
34. b4 Bxe3 35. Ke2 Bg1 36. e7 Kf7 37. e8=Q+ Kxe8 38. Rxg7 Rg6 39. Rxh7 Bd4 40.
c5 Rg2+ 41. Kf1 Rf2+ 42. Ke1 e3 0-1



[Event "e2e4 High Wycombe Open 2014"]
[Site "High Wycombe ENG"]
[Date "2014.03.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Hebden, M."]
[Black "Burnett, J."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2545"]
[BlackElo "2143"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2014.03.14"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Nbd7 6. b3 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. Bb2
Be7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Qc2 h6 11. Rad1 Qc7 12. Qe2 Rad8 13. Ne5 c5 (13... Nxe5 14.
dxe5 Qxe5 {doesn't win a pawn, it might even lose a Queen!} 15. Nxd5 Qd6 16. Nxf6+ Bxf6 17. Bh7+) 14. f4 {The Pillsbury Attack!} 14... Nxe5
15. fxe5 (15. dxe5) 15... Nd7 16. cxd5 exd5 (16... Bxd5 17. Nxd5 exd5) 17. Qg4
Qc6 18. Rf3 Bc8 19. Qg3 Nb8 20. e4 Be6 21. exd5 Bxd5 22. Nxd5 Qxd5 23. Bc4 Qb7
24. Rdf1 1-0

Mates follow with a bit more effort -- two inspirational games from Botvinnik

[Event "coordination (LITTLEWOOD)"]
[Site "coordination (LITTLEWOOD)"]
[Date "1966.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "BotvinniK, Mikhail"]
[Black "Robatsch, Karl"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[PlyCount "47"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Be7 7. Qc2 O-O (7...
Ne4 {?} 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Nxd5) 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. Nf3 Re8 10. O-O {[#]} Nf8 (10...
h6 11. Bf4 Nh5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Bc7) 11. Rae1 Ne4 (11... Be6 {was better}) 12.
Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Nd2 {[#]  Black has been allowed a stand in the
centre, but it may be only an Aunt Sally.} b6 {? too slow} (14... f5) 15. Qa4
f5 16. f3 {[#]  ouch} exf3 17. Nxf3 Bd7 18. Ne5 Qe6 19. Qc2 Bc8 {[#]} 20. e4
Qd6 21. Rd1 Ne6 22. Qb3 fxe4 {[#]  hoping for Nxe4, Qd5} 23. Rf7 {Stunning,
but based on a concrete lead in development and nicely posted pieces} a5 (23...
Nxd4 24. Rf8+ Kxf8 25. Qf7#) (23... Ng5 24. Nxe4) (23... Rf8 24. Rxf8+ Kxf8 25.
Nxe4 Qd5 26. Qf3+ Ke7 27. Qf7+ Kd8 28. Nc3 Qd6 29. d5) (23... e3 24. Ne4 Qd5
25. Qxe3 Nxd4 26. Nf6+ gxf6 27. Qg3+ Bg4 28. Qxg4+ Kh8 29. Qg7#) 24. Nxe4 (24.
Nxe4 Qd5 25. Rxg7+ Kxg7 (25... Kh8 26. Nf6 Qxb3 27. Rxh7#) 26. Qg3+ Kf8 (26...
Kh8 27. Nf7#) (26... Kh6 27. Nf7+ Kh5 28. Nf6#) 27. Rf1+ Ke7 28. Rf7+ Kd8 29.
Qh4+) 1-0


[Event "style: Botvinnik's positional "]
[Site "style: Botvinnik's positional"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "BotvinniK, Mikhail"]
[Black "Chekhover, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A06"]
[PlyCount "83"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. b3 Nf6 3. Bb2 e6 4. c4 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O
a6 9. Nd4 dxc4 10. bxc4 Nc5 11. f4 {!} Qc7 12. Nf3 Rd8 13. Qc2 Ncd7 14. d4 c5
15. Ne5 b6 16. Bd3 cxd4 17. exd4 Bb7 18. Qe2 Nf8 19. Nd1 {[#]  ! White's slow
opening did not mean lack of ambition in the centre, and this 'retreat' is
only to advance with more effect.} Ra7 20. Nf2 Qb8 21. Nh3 h6 22. Ng5 {[#]  !
Space has been rather abruptly turned into attack: the key is mobility.} hxg5
23. fxg5 N8d7 24. Nxf7 Kxf7 25. g6+ Kg8 26. Qxe6+ Kh8 27. Qh3+ Kg8 28. Bf5 Nf8
29. Be6+ Nxe6 30. Qxe6+ Kh8 31. Qh3+ Kg8 {[#]  How to proceed?} 32. Rxf6 Bxf6
33. Qh7+ Kf8 34. Re1 Be5 35. Qh8+ Ke7 36. Qxg7+ Kd6 37. Qxe5+ Kc6 38. d5+ Kc5
39. Ba3+ Kxc4 40. Qe4+ Kc3 41. Bb4+ Kb2 42. Qb1# {[#]  An attractive finish.}
1-0

Not mate, but you get a great game

[Event "sacrifice on f7 by N"]
[Site "sacrifice on f7 by N"]
[Date "1931.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "BotvinniK, Mikhail"]
[Black "Batuyev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D60"]
[PlyCount "49"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 c5 9. O-O cxd4 10. exd4 Nb6 11. Bb3 Nbd5 12. Ne5 Nd7 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Qe2
Nf6 15. Rfd1 b6 16. Rac1 Bb7 17. f3 Rc8 {[#]} 18. Nxf7 Rxf7 19. Qxe6 Qf8 20.
Ne4 Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Nfd5 22. Nd6 Ba8 23. Re1 g6 24. Nxf7 Qxf7 25. Qxe7 1-0


[Event "Zuerich"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "1934.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bernstein, Ossip"]
[Black "Stahlberg, Gideon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "1934.07.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.07.01"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Be7 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bd3 b6 7. Ne5 Bb7 (7...
Nbd7) 8. Qf3 c5 9. c3 Nbd7 10. Qh3 Re8 11. Ndf3 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 (12. dxe5 Ne4 13.
Nd2) 12... c4 13. Bc2 b5 14. g4 g6 15. Bd1 Bf8 16. Bg5 Be7 17. Qf3 b4 18. cxb4
Bxb4+ 19. Kf1 Be7 20. Kg2 Rb8 21. Ba4 Rf8 22. Bh6 Qc7 23. h4 Ne4 24. Nd7 Bc6
25. Bxc6 Qxc6 26. Bxf8 Qxd7 27. Bxe7 Rxb2 28. Bf6 Qb7 29. Raf1 c3 30. g5 Qb5
31. h5 Nd2 32. hxg6 fxg6 33. Qg4 Qd7 34. Rxh7 Qxh7 35. Rh1 Qxh1+ 36. Kxh1 Kf7
37. Qh3 Rb1+ 38. Kg2 1-0

Not mate, but worth a try

[Event "Nice ol (Men) fin-A"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "1974.06.24"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Pribyl, Josef"]
[Black "Penrose, Jonathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2455"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "75"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. c3 e6 4. Bf4 Nf6 5. e3 Be7 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. Ne5
Bb7 9. Qf3 Nc6 10. Qh3 g6 11. Bh6 Re8 12. f4 Nd7 13. O-O f5 14. Ndf3 Ncxe5 15.
fxe5 Bf8 16. Ng5 Bxh6 17. Qxh6 Nf8 18. Rf3 Re7 19. g4 Rg7 20. Raf1 Qd7 21. Kh1
Qe7 22. h4 Bc8 23. Rg3 a5 24. Rfg1 Ra7 25. Nh3 Qd8 26. Nf4 c4 27. Be2 Raf7 28.
gxf5 exf5 29. Bf3 Be6 30. Qg5 Qxg5 31. Rxg5 Rd7 32. h5 Kf7 33. R1g2 Ke8 34.
hxg6 hxg6 35. Kg1 Kd8 36. Bh5 Rh7 37. Bxg6 Rh3 38. Nxh3 1-0

The advance leads to a bit of trouble

[Event "rooks on files: half-open"]
[Site "rooks on files: half-open"]
[Date "1894.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tarrasch, Siegbert"]
[Black "Von Scheve"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[PlyCount "59"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bf4 c6 6. e3 Nbd7 7. h3 Ne4 {
[#] Tarrasch says: White will now pull the d-pawn to e4, attack it with f3,
recapture with gxf3, attack down the g-file, and win. (I PREDICT THE FUTURE -
CHESSPLAYER'S AMAZING CLAIM)} 8. Nxe4 dxe4 9. Nd2 Bb4 10. a3 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 O-O
12. Qc2 f5 13. Bd6 Re8 14. O-O-O 
{Thinking ahead -- White doesn't want to have the King on g1}
14...Nf6 15. Be5 Bd7 16. f3 
{This is the key idea -- now White gets the half-open g-file.}
16...exf3 17. gxf3 b5 18.
Rg1 Rf8 19. Rd2 Rf7 20. Rdg2 {[#] All predictions fulfilled!} a5 21. Qf2 Ne8
22. Rg5 Qe7 23. Qh4 Nf6 24. Qh6 Ra7 25. Bd6 Qxd6 26. Rxg7+ Kf8 27. Rxh7+ Ke7
28. Rxf7+ Kxf7 29. Rg7+ Kf8 30. Qxf6+ 1-0


[Event "weak squares: colour complex"]
[Site "weak squares: colour complex"]
[Date "1934.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Riumin"]
[Black "Ragozin, V."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E34"]
[PlyCount "40"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8.
Qxc3 Bd7 9. b4 a5 10. b5 Na7 11. a4 c6 12. Ba3 Re8 13. Rb1 dxc4 14. b6 (14.
Bxc4 cxb5 15. axb5 Rc8 16. Qd3 Nd5) (14. Qxc4 cxb5 15. axb5 Rc8 16. Qb3 Nd5 {
with White-square control for Black in each case}) 14... Nb5 $1 15. axb5 cxb5
16. Ne5 
{Looks lively, but not really to the point.}
(16. Bb2) (16. Bc1) 16... b4 17. Qc1 Bb5 18. Be2 Rc8 19. Bxb4 axb4 20.
Rxb4 Ba6 {and Black soon won} 0-1




[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "King's Pawn"]
[Black "Petroff Defence"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "10"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 *

{It looks like Black is a move ahead, doesn't it?  But If anyone has the advantage, it's White.  Black's early advance makes it harder to hold things together, not easier.  The main lines continue:}

 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4

{And Black has some problems, which aren't fatal, but White wins more games from this position than against other Black defences.}
*

The advance leads to a lot of trouble

[Event "Budapest FS07 IM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aagaard, Jacob"]
[Black "Welling, Gerard"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D36"]


1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. cxd5 exd5 7. e3 Be7 8.
Qc2 Nh5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. O-O-O Nhf6 11. Bd3 Nb6 12. Ne5 
{A bold advance, but really it loses a pawn.}
12...Ng4 13. e4 Nxe5 14.
dxe5 d4 15. Ne2 Qxe5 16. Kb1 Be6 17. f4 Qa5 18. a3 c5 19. f5 Bd7 20. Rc1 Rc8
21. e5 c4 22. e6 Ba4 0-1

The advance just loses!

[Event "GER-ch Net qual2 U18"]
[Site "playchess.com INT"]
[Date "2009.05.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Von Renesse, Konstantin"]
[Black "Zuferi, Enis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "1431"]
[BlackElo "1968"]
[PlyCount "12"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. d4 e5 5. Nf3 e4 6. Ne5 f6 
{No retreat!}
0-1


[Event "Example"]
[Site "DJCA"]
[Date "2020.10.14"]
[Round "2.13"]
[White "NN"]
[Black "NN"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2 Ne7 5. e3 Nbc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Ne5?? 

{This 'attacking' move loses a piece}

7...Nxe5! 8. Bxd7+ Nxd7 0-1

So, the advance is good when:

• The Knight works well in an attack with other pieces
• The Knight can't be chased away
• The Knight can't be swapped off
• The Knight can be swapped, but another piece comes to the outpost
• The Knight can be swapped, but the pawn that takes back chases away a defender, or makes the opponent squashed
• The Knight can be swapped, but only by a Bishop

The advance is not so good when:

• You don't have the advantage or the attack
• The Knight doesn't work with your other pieces
• A swap doesn't bother your opponent
• A swap gives you a weak pawn