chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, certain checkmate patterns that occur frequently have been given specific names in chess literature. By definition, a ''checkmate pattern'' is a recognizable or particular or studied arrangement of pieces that delivers

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

. The diagrams that follow show these checkmates with

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

checkmating Black.

Anastasia's mate

In ''Anastasia's mate'', a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

and rook team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board on one side and a friendly piece on the other. Often, the queen is first sacrificed along the a- or h-file to achieve the position. A

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

can be used instead of a knight to the same effect (see Greco's mate). This checkmate gets its name from the novel ''Anastasia und das Schachspiel'' by Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse, but the novelist took the chess position from an essay by

Giambattista Lolli Giambattista Lolli (1698 – 4 June 1769) was an Italian List of chess players, chess player and one of the most important Chess theory, chess theoreticians of his time. He is most famous for his book ''Osservazioni teorico-pratiche sopra il giuoc ...

Anderssen's mate

In ''Anderssen's mate'' (named for

Adolf Anderssen Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (6 July 1818 – 13 March 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. ...

), the rook or

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

is supported by a diagonally attacking piece such as a

pawn Pawn most often refers to: * Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous chess piece in the game * Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral Pawn or The Pawn may also refer to: Places * Pa ...

as it checkmates the opposing king along the eighth . Sometimes a distinction is drawn between Anderssen's mate, where the rook is supported by a pawn (which itself is supported by another piece, as in the diagram), and ''Mayet's mate'', where the rook is supported by a distant bishop.

Arabian mate

In the ''Arabian mate'', the knight and the rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board. The rook sits on a square adjacent to the king both to prevent escape along the diagonal and to deliver checkmate while the knight sits two squares away diagonally from the king to prevent escape on the square next to the king and to protect the rook. In addition to being among the most common mating patterns, the Arabian mate is also an important topic in the context of

history of chess The history of chess can be traced back nearly 1,500 years to its earliest known predecessor, called chaturanga, in History of India, India; its prehistory is the subject of speculation. From India it spread to Sassanian Empire, Persia, where i ...

for being mentioned in an ancient Arabic manuscript dating from the 8th century CE. The pattern is also derived from an older form of chess in which the knight and the rook were the two most powerful pieces in the game, before chess had migrated to Europe and the queen given its current powers of movement.

Back-rank mate

The ''back-rank mate'' occurs when a rook or queen checkmates a king that is blocked in by its own pieces (usually pawns) on the first or eighth rank.

Balestra mate

The ''balestra mate'' involves a queen cutting off the king's escape both diagonally and vertically whilst having a bishop deliver checkmate.

Bishop and knight mate

The ''bishop and knight'' mate is one of the four basic checkmates and occurs when the king works together with a bishop and knight to the opponent king to the corner of the board. The bishop and knight endgame can be difficult to master: some positions may require up to 34 moves (if both sides play perfectly) before checkmate can be delivered.

Blackburne's mate

''Blackburne's mate'' is named for

Joseph Henry Blackburne Joseph Henry Blackburne (10 December 1841 – 1 September 1924) was a British chess player. Nicknamed "The Black Death", he dominated the British scene during the latter part of the 19th century. Blackburne learned the game at the relatively late ...

and is a rare method of checkmating. The checkmate utilizes enemy pieces (typically a rook) and/or the edge of the board, together with a friendly knight, to confine the enemy king's sideways escape, while a friendly bishop pair takes the remaining two diagonals off from the enemy king. Threatening Blackburne's mate, which sometimes goes in conjunction with a queen sacrifice, can be used to weaken Black's position.

Blind swine mate

The ''blind swine mate'' pattern's name is attributed to Polish master

Dawid Janowski Dawid Markelowicz Janowski (25 May 1868 – 15 January 1927; often spelled ''David'') was a Polish chess player. Several opening variations are named after Janowski. Biography Born into a Jewish-Polish family in Wołkowysk, Russian Empire ...

who referred to on a player's 7th rank as "swine". In the first diagram with White to play, White can force checkmate as follows: :1. Rxg7+ Kh8 :2. Rxh7+ Kg8 :3. Rbg7 In the first diagrammed position, the rooks on White's 7th rank can start on any two files from ''a'' to ''e'', and although black pawns are commonly present as shown, they are not necessary to deliver the mate. The f8-rook is necessary to stop the king from escaping if the attacking side does not already have a piece controlling that

flight square In chess, a flight square or escape square is a safe square to which a piece, especially a king, can move if it is threatened. Providing one's piece with flight squares can prevent the opponent from winning material or delivering checkmate. For ...

. The second diagram shows the final position after checkmate. In the book ''

My System ''My System'' () is a book on chess theory written by Aron Nimzowitsch. Originally over a series of five brochures from 1925 to 1927, the book—one of the early works on hypermodernism—introduced many new concepts to followers of the modern ...

'', Nimzowitsch refers to this type of mate as: "The seventh rank, absolute."

Boden's mate

Boden's mate Boden's Mate is a checkmating pattern in chess characterized by bishops on two criss-crossing diagonals (for example, bishops on a6 and f4 delivering mate to a king on c8), with possible flight squares for the king being occupied by friendly piece ...

'' involves two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals delivering checkmate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces, usually a rook and a pawn.

Corner mate

The ''corner mate'' is a common method of checkmating. It works by confining the king to the corner using a rook or queen with a pawn blocking the final escape square and using a minor piece to engage the checkmate.

Damiano's bishop mate

''Damiano's bishop mate'' is a classic method of checkmating. The checkmate utilizes a queen and bishop, where the bishop is used to support the queen and the queen is used to engage the checkmate. The checkmate is named after

Pedro Damiano Pedro Damiano (; ''Damiano'' is the Italian form, much like the Latin ''Damianus''; 1480–1544) was a Portuguese chess player. A native of Odemira, he was a pharmacist by profession. He wrote ''Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et d ...

. One can also think of similar mates like 'Damiano's knight' and 'Damiano's rook' or even 'Damiano's king' (See Queen mate below), 'Damiano's pawn' or 'Damiano's (second) queen'.

Damiano's mate

''Damiano's mate'' is a classic method of checkmating and one of the oldest. It works by confining the king with a pawn and using a queen to execute the checkmate. Damiano's mate is often arrived at by first

sacrificing Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks ...

a rook on the h-file, then checking the king with the queen on the a-file or h-file, and then moving in for the mate. The checkmate was first published by

in 1512. In Damiano's publication he failed to place the white king on the

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ...

which resulted in it not being entered into many chess databases due to their rejection of illegal positions.

Double bishop mate

The ''double bishop mate'' is a classic method of checkmating. It is similar to

, but the two bishops are placed on parallel diagonals. The escape squares are occupied or controlled by enemy pieces.

Double knight mate

The ''double knight mate'' usually involves a king being trapped behind a pawn or a group of pawns in front of it and blocked by a piece to the side. The king is then checked by a knight and forced into a position in which it can be checkmated by the other knight.

Dovetail mate (Cozio's mate)

The ''dovetail mate'' is a common method of checkmating, and is also known as ''Cozio's mate'', named after a study by Carlo Cozio, published in 1766. It involves trapping the black king in the pattern shown. It does not matter how the queen is supported and it does not matter which type Black's other two pieces are so long as neither is an unpinned knight. See also Swallow's tail mate.

Epaulette mate

The ''epaulette mate'' is, in its broadest definition, a

where two parallel retreat squares for a checked king are occupied by its own pieces, preventing its escape. The most common epaulette mate involves the king on its , trapped between two rooks." Checkmates with Names"
Mark Weeks, About.com: Chess The perceived visual similarity between the rooks and ''

epaulette Epaulette (; also spelled epaulet) is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations. Flexible metal epaulettes (usually made from brass) are referred to as ''shoulder scale ...

s'', ornamental shoulder pieces worn on

military uniform A military uniform is a standardised clothing, dress worn by members of the armed forces and Paramilitary, paramilitaries of various nations. Military dress and styles have gone through significant changes over the centuries, from colourful ...

s, gives the checkmate its name. In a compendium of problems by László Polgár, two elementary mate-in-one problems were given, with the solutions being epaulette mates. Problem numbers 127 and 193. ;Example game *

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

vs.

Sipke Ernst Sipke Ernst (born 8 January 1979), is a Dutch chess Grandmaster, Dutch Chess Championship medalist, and FIDE Trainer. Biography In the 2000s, Sipke Ernst was one of the leading Dutch chess players. He won four medals in the Dutch Chess Champion ...

, Wijk aan Zee 2004. Carlsen, aged thirteen at the time, achieved an unusual "sideways" epaulette mate against Ernst on his way to winning the C Group at the

Corus chess tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...

in 2004."The Mozart of Chess"
Mathias Berntsen, Chessbase.com, January 27, 2004

Greco's mate

''Greco's mate'' is a common method of checkmating. The checkmate is named after the famous Italian checkmate cataloguer

Gioachino Greco Gioachino Greco ( – ), surnamed Cusentino and more frequently ''il Calabrese'', was an Italian chess player and writer. He recorded some of the earliest chess games known in their entirety. His games, which never indicated players, were q ...

. It works by using the bishop to contain the black king by use of the black g-pawn and subsequently using the queen or a rook to checkmate the king by moving it to the edge of the board.

Hook mate

The ''hook mate'' involves the use of a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape. The rook is protected by the knight, and the knight is protected by the pawn, while the pawn also attacks one of the enemy king's escape squares.

Kill box mate

The ''kill box mate'' is a box-shaped checkmate. The checkmate is delivered by a rook with the queen's assistance. The rook is adjacent to the king, while the queen supports the rook, being separated from it by one empty square on the same diagonal as the rook. This forms a 3 by 3 box shape, inside which the enemy king is trapped. The king could be anywhere on the board, but must have no escape squares available to him due either to being on the edge of the board or to being blocked off by friendly or enemy pieces.

King and two bishops mate

The ''king and two bishops mate'' is one of the four basic checkmates. It occurs when the king with two bishops force the bare king to the corner of the board to force a possible mate.

King and two knights mate

In a

two knights endgame The two knights endgame is a chess endgame with a king and two knights versus a king. In contrast to a king and two bishops (on opposite-colored squares), or a bishop and a knight, a king and two knights cannot checkmate against a lone king (h ...

, the side with the king and two knights checkmate a bare king by . This endgame should be a

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn most commonly refer to: * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Draw (tie), in a competition, where competitors achieve equal outcomes * Draw ...

if the bare king plays correctly. A mate occurs only if the player with the bare king blunders. In some circumstances, if the side with the bare king instead has a pawn, it is possible to set up this type of checkmate.

Ladder mate (lawnmower mate)

The ''ladder mate'', also known as a ''lawnmower mate'', is by far one of the most common checkmate patterns. In this mate, two major pieces (which can be two queens, two rooks or one rook and one queen) work together to push the enemy king to one side of the board.

Légal's mate

In ''Légal's mate'', two knights and a bishop coordinate to administer checkmate. Alternatively, the mate may be delivered by a bishop on g5.

Lolli's mate

''Lolli's mate'' is a common method of checkmating. The checkmate involves infiltrating Black's

fianchetto In chess, the fianchetto ( or spelling pronunciation ; "little flank") is a pattern of wherein a bishop is developed to the second of the adjacent b- or g-, the having been moved one or two squares forward. The fianchetto is a staple of man ...

position using both a pawn and queen. The queen often gets to the h6-square by means of sacrifices on the h-file. It is named after

Max Lange's mate

''Max Lange's mate'' is named after

Max Lange Max Lange (August 7, 1832, Magdeburg – December 8, 1899, Leipzig) was a German chess player and problem composer. Chess career Lange was an editor of the ''Deutsche Schachzeitung'' (German Chess Newsletter) from 1858 to 1864. He was a founder ...

, who first used it in a game against

. In this mating pattern, the queen delivers the check, supported by a bishop that both defends the queen and covers an escape square.

Mayet's mate

''Mayet's mate'' involves the use of a rook attacking the black king supported by a bishop. It often comes about after the black king

castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This i ...

on its in a

position. White usually arrives at this position after a series of sacrifices on the a-file or h-file. It is a type of Anderssen's mate and closely resembles the Opera mate. The "h-file" mate is an apt description, but the pattern is properly called "Mayet's mate" after the German player Carl Mayet. See variation description in Anderssen's mate given above.

Morphy's mate

''Morphy's mate'' is a common method of checkmating. It was named after

Paul Morphy Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. During his brief career in the late 1850s, Morphy was acknowledged as the world's greatest chess master. A prodigy, Morphy emerged onto the chess scene in 1857 ...

. It works by using the bishop to attack the black king and a rook and Black's own pawn to confine it. In many respects it is very similar to the corner mate. Note that for a bishop on f6, capturing on f7 is incorrect since upon giving the rook retreat, the black rook would simply capture the bishop.

Opera mate

The ''opera mate'' is a common method of checkmating. It works by attacking an uncastled king on the back rank with a rook using a bishop to protect it. An enemy pawn or a piece other than a knight is used to restrict the enemy king's movement. It is a type of Anderssen's mate and closely resembles Mayet's mate. The checkmate was named after its implementation by

in 1858 at a game at the Paris opera against Duke Karl of Brunswick and Count Isouard; see Opera game.

Pawn mate (David and Goliath mate)

The ''pawn mate'', also known as the ''David and Goliath mate'', is a common method of checkmating. Although the pawn mate can take many forms, it is characterized generally as a mate in which a pawn is the final attacking piece and where enemy pawns are nearby. Its alternate name is taken from the

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

account of

David and Goliath Goliath ( ) was a Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challenge to the Israelit ...

Pillsbury's mate

''Pillsbury's mate'' is a common method of checkmating and is named for

Harry Nelson Pillsbury Harry Nelson Pillsbury (December 5, 1872 – June 17, 1906) was a leading American chess player. At the age of 22, he won the Hastings 1895 chess tournament, one of the strongest tournaments of the time, but his illness and early death prevente ...

. It works by attacking the king with the rook while the bishop is cutting off the king. It is very similar to Morphy's Mate, in fact in some ways they are interchangeable, the main difference is that in Pillsbury's mate, the bishop could be on h6.

Queen mate

The ''queen mate'' is one of the four basic checkmates. It occurs when the side with the king and queen force the bare king to the edge or corner of the board. The queen checkmates the bare king with the support of the allied king. In line with Damiano's bishop mate earlier, this could be seen as 'Damiano's king mate'.

Réti's mate

''Réti's mate'' is a famous method of checkmating. The checkmate is named after

Richard Réti Richard Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929) was an Austro-Hungarian and later Czechoslovak chess player, chess author and composer of endgame studies. He was one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism in chess. With the exception of N ...

, who delivered it in an 11-move game against

Savielly Tartakower Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (chess), Internatio ...

in 1910 in Vienna. It works by trapping the enemy king with four of its own pieces that are situated on flight squares and then attacking it with a bishop that is protected by a rook or queen.

Rook mate (box mate)

The ''rook mate'' is one of the four basic checkmates. It occurs when the side with the king and rook box in the bare king to the corner or edge of the board. The mate is delivered by the rook along the edge rank or file, and escape towards the centre of the board is blocked by the king.

Smothered mate

Smothered mate In chess, a smothered mate is a checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because it is completely surrounded (or ''smothered'') by its own pieces, which a knight can jump over. The mate is usually seen in a corner ...

'' is a common method of checkmating. It occurs when a knight checkmates a king that is smothered (surrounded) by his friendly pieces and he has nowhere to move nor is there any way to capture the knight. One common checkmating pattern finishing with a smothered mate is known as ''Philidor's Legacy'' after

François-André Danican Philidor François-André Danican Philidor (7 September 1726 – 31 August 1795), often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French composer and chess player. He contributed to the early development of the ''opéra comique''. ...

, though its documentation predates Philidor by several hundred years.

Stamma's mate

Stamma's mate (named for

Philipp Stamma Philipp Stamma ( – c. 1755), a native of Aleppo, Ottoman Syria, later resident of England and France, was a chess master and a pioneer of modern chess. His reputation rests largely on his authorship of the early chess book ''Essai sur le jeu d ...

) is a rare endgame pattern in which a player is able to force mate with only a king and knight, due to the opponent's king being trapped in front of an advanced rook's pawn. In the diagram, White to move wins: : 1. Nb4+ Ka1 : 2. Kc1 a2 : 3. Nc2# White also wins if Black is to move first: : 1... Ka1 : 2. Nc1 a2 : 3. Nb3#

Suffocation mate

The ''suffocation mate'' is a common method of checkmating. It works by using the knight to attack the enemy king and the bishop or queen to confine the king's escape routes.

Swallow's tail mate (guéridon mate)

The ''swallow's tail mate'', also known as the ''guéridon mate'', is a common method of checkmating. It works by attacking the enemy king with a queen that is protected by a rook or other piece. The enemy king's own pieces (in this example, rooks) block its means of escape. It resembles the epaulette mate.

Triangle mate

The ''triangle mate'' involves a queen, supported by a rook on the same file two squares away, delivering checkmate to a king that is either at the edge of the board or whose escape is blocked by a piece; the queen, rook, and king together form a triangular shape, hence the name of the mating pattern.

Vuković's mate

''Vuković’s mate'' is a mate involving a protected rook which delivers checkmate to the king at the edge of the board, while a knight covers the remaining escape squares of the king. The rook is usually protected with either the king or a pawn.
Chess Games, Vuković Mate Examples This pattern was famously used by 13-year-old

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...

in 1956 to checkmate

Donald Byrne Donald Byrne (June 12, 1930 – April 8, 1976) was an American university professor and chess player. He held the title International Master, and competed for his country in the Chess Olympiad on several occasions. Biography Born in New York Ci ...

in what is now commonly known as the Game of the Century.

References

Bibliography * * *

External links

Checkmate patterns practice

Lichess Lichess (; ) is a free and open-source software, free and open-source Internet chess server run by a Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization of the same name. Users of the site can play online chess anonymously and optionally register an ...

{{Chess, state=collapsed Chess checkmates Chess terminology