Checkmate pattern

Checkmate patterns are patterns of checkmate that occur fairly frequently in [chess]].

Anastasia's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Anastasia's mate.

Anastasia's mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate got its name from the novel Anastasia und das Schachspiel by Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse. It works by using the knight and rook to trap and checkmate the black king.

Anderssen's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Anderssen's mate.

Anderssen's mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate involves using the white rook or queen to checkmate the black king. The checkmating piece is supported by either a pawn or bishop. Anderssen's mate is often seen far in advance where little can be done to prevent it.

Arabian mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Arabian mate.

The Arabian mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate works by using the knight so that it is two diagonal squares from the black king to trap it inconjunction with using the rook to supply the check. The rook can checkmate on either the rank or file.

Blackburne's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Blackburne's mate.

Blackburne's mate is a rare method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate utilizes the black rook (it could be a bishop or queen instead) to confine the black's king escape to the f7 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.

Corner mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Corner mate.

The Corner mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. 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

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Cozio's mate. After 1.Qh6+, then black is forced to play 1. Kg3.

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

White then checkmates with 2.Qh2.

Cozio's mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate is an upside down version of the Dovetail mate. It was named after a study conducted in 1766 by Carlo Cozio.

Damiano's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Damiano's mate.

Damiano's mate is a classic method of checkmating the king and one of the oldest found in the game of chess. 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 sacrificing 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 in 1512. In Damiano's publication he failed to place the white king on the board which resulted in it not being entered into many chess databases due to their rejection of illegal positions.

Damiano's bishop mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Damiano's bishop mate.

Damiano's bishop mate is a classic method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. 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.

David and Goliath mate

The David and Goliath mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. 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

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Double bishop mate.

The Double bishop mate is a classic method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. It is a similar to Boden's mate, but a bit simpler. The checkmate involves attacking the king using two bishops, resulting in the king being trapped behind a black pawn that hasn't been moved.

Dovetail mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Dovetail mate.

The Dovetail mate is an unusual method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate was first introduced by Jonathan Tisdall. 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.

Greco's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Greco's mate.

Greco's mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate is named after the famous italian checkmate cataloger 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

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal H-file mate.

The H-file mate is a method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. 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 king side in a fianchetto position. White usually arrives at this position after a series of sacrifices on the h-file.

Hook mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Hook mate.

The Hook mate is a method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate 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.

Lolli's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Lolli's mate.

Lolli's mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate involves infiltrating black's fianchetto position using both a pawn and queen. The queen often times gets to the h6 square by means of sacrifices on the h-file. It is named after Giambattista Lolli.

Max Lange's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Max Lange's mate.

Max Lange's mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate is named after Max Lange. It works by using the bishop and queen to checkmate the king.

Morphy's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Morphy's mate.

Morphy's mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. It was named after Paul Morphy. 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 its very similar to the Corner mate.

Opera mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Opera mate.

The Opera mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. 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 kings' is used to restrict its movement. The checkmate was named after its implementation by Paul Morphy in 1858 at a game at the Paris opera.

Pillsbury's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Pillsbury's mate.

Pillsbury's mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. 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.

Réti's mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Réti's mate.

Réti's mate is a famous method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. The checkmate is named after Richard Réti. 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.

Suffocation mate

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Suffocation mate.

The Suffocation mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. 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

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

An archetypal Swallow's tail mate.

Swallow's tail mate also known as the Guéridon mate is a common method of checkmating the king found in the game of chess. 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.

References

Schiller, Eric (1999). Encyclopedia of Chess Wisdom, Cardoza Publishing, New York, ISBN 0940685930.