Checkmate patterns
Encyclopedia
Checkmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
that occurs fairly frequently in chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
. The diagrams that follow show the checkmates with White
White and Black in chess
In chess, the player who moves first is referred to as "White" and the player who moves second is referred to as "Black". Similarly, the pieces that each conducts are called, respectively, "the white pieces" and "the black pieces". The pieces are often not literally white and black, but some...
checkmating Black.
Anastasia's mate
Anastasia's mate is a common method of checkmating. The checkmate got its name from the novel Anastasia und das Schachspiel by Johann Jakob Wilhelm HeinseJohann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse
Wilhelm Heinse , German author, was born at Langewiesen in Schwarzburg-Sondershausen ....
. It works by using the knight
Knight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...
and rook
Rook (chess)
A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...
to trap and checkmate the black king
King (chess)
In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...
.
Anderssen's mate
Anderssen's mate is a common method of checkmating and is named for Adolf AnderssenAdolf Anderssen
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was a German chess master. He is considered to have been the world's leading chess player in the 1850s and 1860s...
. The checkmate involves using the white rook or queen
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...
to checkmate the black king. The checkmating piece
Chess piece
Chess pieces or chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. The pieces vary in abilities, giving them different values in the game...
is supported by either a pawn
Pawn (chess)
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
or bishop
Bishop (chess)
A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...
. Anderssen's mate is often seen far in advance where little can be done to prevent it.
Arabian mate
The Arabian mate is a common method of checkmating. The checkmate works by using the knight so that it is two diagonal squares from the black king to trap it in conjunction with using the rook to supply the check. The rook can checkmate on either the rank or file.Back-rank mate
The back-rank mate is a common method of checkmating. It occurs when a rook or queen checkmates a king that is blocked by his friendly pieces (mostly pawns) on the first or eighth rank nor is there any way to capture the piece attacking the troubled king. Here, for example, the black queen cannot capture the white rook.Bishop and knight checkmate
The Bishop and knight checkmateBishop and knight checkmate
The bishop and knight checkmate in chess is the checkmate of a lone king which can be forced by a bishop, knight, and king. With the stronger side to move and with perfect play, checkmate can be forced in at most thirty-three moves from any starting position where the defender cannot quickly win...
is a common method of checkmating. It occurs when the king and his friendly pieces, the bishop and knight, force the opponent king to the corner of the board the bishop can control to deliver a possible mate. It also possible by forcing the losing king into a stalemate
Stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal moves. A stalemate ends the game in a draw. Stalemate is covered in the rules of chess....
position where it can be checkmated. However, out of the four major checkmates along with Queen mate, Box mate, and king and two bishops checkmate, this one is the most difficult to force a mate, for it can take as many as 34 moves with perfect play. Sometimes the result is also a draw
Draw
Draw, draws or drawn may refer to:* The act of drawing, or making an image with a writing utensil* A part of many card games* A part of a lottery* Wire drawing...
.
Blackburne's mate
Blackburne's mate is named for Joseph Henry BlackburneJoseph Henry Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne , nicknamed "The Black Death", dominated British chess during the latter part of the 19th century. He learned the game at the relatively late age of 18 but quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years...
and is a rare method of checkmating. The checkmate utilizes the black rook (it could be a bishop or queen instead) to confine the black king's escape to the f8 square. One of the bishops confine the black king's movement by operating at a distance, while the knight and bishop operate within close range. Threatening Blackburne's mate can be used to weaken Black's position.
Box mate
The Box mate is one of the four major checkmates along with Queen mate, king and two bishops checkmate, and bishop and knight checkmate. It occurs when the side with the king and rook box in the bare king to the corner or edge of the board.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 and using a knight to engage the checkmate.Cozio's mate
Cozio's mate is a common method of checkmating. The checkmate is an upside down version of the Dovetail mate. It was named after a study conducted in 1766 by Carlo CozioCarlo Cozio
Carlo Cozio, Count of Montiglio and Salabue was an Italian chess player and theorist. He is best remembered for the book Il giuoco degli scacchi, and for the Cozio Defence.-Life:Carlo Cozio was born in Casale Monferrato around 1715...
.
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 DamianoPedro Damiano
Pedro Damiano was a Portuguese chess player who lived from 1480 to 1544. A native of Odemira, he was a pharmacist by profession...
.
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 initiate the final blow. The rook could also be a bishop or queen. Damiano's mate is often arrived at by first sacrificingSacrifice (chess)
In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....
a rook on the h-file, then checking the king with the queen on the h-file, and then moving in for the mate. The checkmate was first published by Pedro Damiano
Pedro Damiano
Pedro Damiano was a Portuguese chess player who lived from 1480 to 1544. A native of Odemira, he was a pharmacist by profession...
in 1512. In Damiano's publication he failed to place the white king on the board
Chessboard
A chessboard is the type of checkerboard used in the board game chess, and consists of 64 squares arranged in two alternating colors...
which resulted in it not being entered into many chess databases due to their rejection of illegal positions.
David and Goliath mate
The David and Goliath mate is a common method of checkmating. Although the David and Goliath 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.Double bishop mate
The Double bishop mate is a classic method of checkmating. It is a similar to Boden's mateBoden's Mate
Boden's Mate is a checkmating pattern in chess characterized by bishops on two criss-crossing diagonals , with possible flight squares for the king being occupied by friendly pieces. Most often the checkmated king has castled queenside, and is mated on c8 or c1...
, but a bit simpler. The checkmate involves attacking the king using two bishops, resulting in the king being trapped behind a black pawn that has not been moved.
Dovetail mate
The Dovetail mate is an common method of checkmating. It involves trapping the black king in a pattern shown to the right. 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 a knight.Epaulette mate
Epaulette or epaulet mate is, in its broadest definition, a checkmateCheckmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
where two parallel retreat squares for a checked king are occupied by his own pieces, preventing his escape. The most common Epaulette mate involves the king on his back rank, trapped between two rooks. The perceived visual similarity between the rooks and epaulette
Epaulette
Epaulette is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations.Epaulettes are fastened to the shoulder by a shoulder strap or "passant", a small strap parallel to the shoulder seam, and the button near the collar, or by laces on the...
s, ornamental shoulder pieces worn on military uniform
Military uniform
Military uniforms comprises standardised dress worn by members of the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations. Military dress and military styles have gone through great changes over the centuries from colourful and elaborate to extremely utilitarian...
s, gives the checkmate its name.
Example games
- Van Wely–Morozevich, Wijk aan Zee 2001; Loek van WelyLoek van WelyLoek van Wely is a chess Grandmaster from the Netherlands. He won the Dutch Chess Championship six times straight from 2000 through 2005. He was rated among the world's top ten in 2001. In 2002, in Maastricht, Netherlands, van Wely took on the computer program Rebel in a four-game match. The...
is forced to resign after blunderingBlunder (chess)In chess, a blunder is a very bad move. It is usually caused by some tactical oversight, whether from time trouble, overconfidence or carelessness. While a blunder may seem like a stroke of luck for the opposing player, some chess players give their opponent plenty of opportunities to blunder.What...
into an unavoidable Epaulette mate against Alexander MorozevichAlexander MorozevichAlexander Morozevich is a Russian chess Grandmaster. In the November 2011 FIDE list, he had an Elo rating of 2762, making him the 9th-highest rated player in the world, although he has previously ranked as high as second, in the July 2008 list....
. - Carlsen–Ernst, Wijk aan Zee 2004; a twelve year old Magnus CarlsenMagnus CarlsenSven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
achieves an unusual "sideways" Epaulette mate against Sipke Ernst on his way to winning the C Group at the Corus chess tournamentCorus chess tournamentThe Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
in 2004. - Anand-Carlsen, Tal Memorial Blitz World Championship 2009; when Carlsen essentially clinched the blitz world champion title.
Greco's mate
Greco's mate is a common method of checkmating. The checkmate is named after the famous Italian checkmate cataloguer Gioachino Greco. It works by using the bishop to contain the black king by use of the black g-pawn and subsequently using the queen to checkmate the king by moving it to the edge of the board.h-file mate
The h-file mate is a method of checkmating. The checkmate involves the use of a rook attacking the black king supported by a bishop. It often comes about after the black king castles on its kingside in a fianchettoFianchetto
In chess the fianchetto is a pattern of development wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent knight file, the knight pawn having been moved one or two squares forward....
position. White usually arrives at this position after a series of sacrifices on the h-file.
Hook mate
The Hook mate involves the use of a white rook, knight, and pawn along with one black pawn to limit the black king's escape. The rook is protected by the knight and the knight is protected by the pawn.King and two bishops checkmate
King and two bishops checkmate is one of the four major checkmates along with Queen mate, Box mate, and the bishop and knight checkmateBishop and knight checkmate
The bishop and knight checkmate in chess is the checkmate of a lone king which can be forced by a bishop, knight, and king. With the stronger side to move and with perfect play, checkmate can be forced in at most thirty-three moves from any starting position where the defender cannot quickly win...
. 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 checkmate
In a two knights endgame, the side with the king and two knights cannot checkmate a bare king by force. This endgame should be a drawDraw
Draw, draws or drawn may refer to:* The act of drawing, or making an image with a writing utensil* A part of many card games* A part of a lottery* Wire drawing...
if the bare king plays correctly. A mate only occurs if the player with the bare king blunders
Blunder (chess)
In chess, a blunder is a very bad move. It is usually caused by some tactical oversight, whether from time trouble, overconfidence or carelessness. While a blunder may seem like a stroke of luck for the opposing player, some chess players give their opponent plenty of opportunities to blunder.What...
or is already trapped in a corner of the board.
Lolli's mate
Lolli's mate is a common method of checkmating. The checkmate involves infiltrating Black's fianchetto position using both a pawn and queen. The queen oftentimes gets to the h6 square by means of sacrifices on the h-file. It is named after Giambattista LolliGiambattista Lolli
Giambattista Lolli was an Italian chess player. Lolli was one of the most important chess theoreticians of his time. He is most famous for his book Osservazioni teorico-pratiche sopra il giuoco degli scacchi , published 1763 in Bologna...
.
Max Lange's mate
Max Lange's mate is a common method of checkmating. The checkmate is named after Max LangeMax Lange
Max Lange was a German chess player and composer.In 1858–1864, he was an editor of the Deutsche Schachzeitung . He was a founder of Westdeutscher Schachbund , and an organizer of the 9th DSB–Congress at Leipzig 1894...
. It works by using the bishop and queen to checkmate the king.
Morphy's mate
Morphy's mate is a common method of checkmating. It was named after Paul MorphyPaul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
. 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.
Opera mate
The Opera mate is a common method of checkmating. It works by attacking the king on the back rank with a rook using a bishop to protect it. A pawn or other piece other than a knight of the enemy king's is used to restrict its movement. The checkmate was named after its implementation by Paul MorphyPaul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
in 1858 at a game at the Paris opera against Duke Karl of Brunswick and Count Isouard, see Opera game
Opera game
The chess game played in 1858 at an opera house in Paris between the American chess master Paul Morphy and two strong amateurs, the German noble Duke Karl of Brunswick and the French aristocrat Count Isouard, is among the most famous chess games. Duke Karl and Count Isouard consulted together,...
.
Pillsbury's mate
Pillsbury's mate is a common method of checkmating and is named for Harry Nelson PillsburyHarry Nelson Pillsbury
Harry Nelson Pillsbury , was a leading chess player. At age 22, he won one of the strongest tournaments of the time , but his illness and early death prevented him from challenging for the World Chess Championship.- Early life :Pillsbury was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, moved to New York City...
. It works by attacking the king with either the rook or bishop as shown to the right. The king can be either on the g8 or h8 square during the checkmate.
Queen mate
Queen mate is one of the four major checkmates along with Box mate, king and two bishops checkmate, and bishop and knight checkmate. It occurs when the side with the king and queen force the bare king to the edge or corner of the board. The queen fully checks the bare king and her friendly king supports her.Réti's mate
Réti's mate is a famous method of checkmating. The checkmate is named after Richard RétiRichard Réti
Réti composed one of the most famous chess studies, shown in this diagram. It was published in Ostrauer Morgenzeitung 4 December 1921. It seems impossible for the white king to catch the advanced black pawn, while the white pawn can be easily stopped by the black king...
. 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.
Smothered mate
Smothered mateSmothered mate
In chess, a smothered mate is a checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because he is surrounded by his own pieces....
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.
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 to confine the king's escape routes.Swallow's tail mate
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. The enemy kings own rooks block its means of escape. It resembles the Epaulette mate.See also
- Outline of chess: Checkmate patterns
- Boden's MateBoden's MateBoden's Mate is a checkmating pattern in chess characterized by bishops on two criss-crossing diagonals , with possible flight squares for the king being occupied by friendly pieces. Most often the checkmated king has castled queenside, and is mated on c8 or c1...
- Fool's mateFool's mateFool's Mate, also known as the Two-Move Checkmate, is the quickest possible checkmate in the game of chess. A prime example consists of the moves:leading to the position shown...
- Scholar's mateScholar's mateIn chess, Scholar's Mate is the checkmate achieved by the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6? 4. Qxf7#. The moves might be played in a different order or in slight variation, but the basic idea is the same—the queen and bishop combine in a simple mating attack on f7 .Sometimes Scholar's Mate is...