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  • Lesson 13 of 32
  • Winning the game
  • 3 min

What Is Checkmate? Learn to Mate in One

Checkmate is how a chess game is won. It is a check with no way out: the king cannot move to safety, the check cannot be blocked, and the attacker cannot be captured.

Step 1 of 4

  1. Watch a checkmate

    The black king on g8 is walled in by its own pawns. The white rook slides to a8 and gives check along the back rank. The king has no square to go to, nothing can block, and nothing can take the rook. That is checkmate, and the game is over.

  2. The back-rank mate

    The same trap, with a different rook. A king stuck behind its own pawns on the back rank is one of the most common ways games end.

    Your move

    Checkmate in one move.

  3. Mate with the queen

    Your king on b6 guards a7, b7 and c7, so the black king in the corner has very little room. The queen only needs to finish the job.

    Your move

    Checkmate in one move.

  4. The smothered mate

    Sometimes a king is trapped by its own pieces. The black king on h8 is boxed in by its rook and two pawns, and a knight check cannot be blocked.

    Your move

    Checkmate in one move with the knight.

What you learned

  • Checkmate is a check the king cannot escape by moving, blocking or capturing. It ends the game.
  • A king trapped behind its own pawns can be mated on the back rank.
  • King and queen together, or a knight against a boxed-in king, can deliver mate.

In this course

Unit 1The pieces

  1. The Chessboard and How to Set Up the Pieces
  2. How the Rook Moves in Chess
  3. How the Bishop Moves in Chess
  4. How the Queen Moves in Chess
  5. How the King Moves in Chess
  6. How the Knight Moves in Chess
  7. How Pawns Move and Capture in Chess
  8. Chess Piece Values: What Each Piece Is Worth

Unit 2Special moves

  1. What Is Check in Chess, and How to Get Out of It
  2. How to Castle in Chess: Kingside and Queenside
  3. En Passant in Chess, Explained on the Board
  4. Pawn Promotion in Chess: Turning a Pawn Into a Queen

Unit 3Winning the game

  1. What Is Checkmate? Learn to Mate in One
  2. Stalemate in Chess: Why It's a Draw
  3. How to Checkmate With a King and Queen

Unit 4Your first tactics

  1. The Fork: Attack Two Pieces at Once
  2. The Pin in Chess: Freeze a Piece in Place
  3. The Skewer in Chess: Attack Through a Piece

Unit 5Checkmate patterns

  1. Back-Rank Mate in Chess: Spot It and Stop It
  2. Smothered Mate in Chess: The Knight's Checkmate
  3. The Ladder Mate: Checkmate With Two Rooks
  4. How to Checkmate With a King and Rook

Unit 6More tactics

  1. Discovered Attack in Chess: Unmask a Hidden Attacker
  2. Double Check in Chess: Two Checks at Once
  3. Removing the Defender in Chess: Take the Guard

Unit 7Opening principles

  1. Control the Centre: A Chess Opening Principle
  2. How to Develop Your Pieces in the Chess Opening
  3. Scholar's Mate: How It Works and How to Stop It
  4. Fool's Mate: The Fastest Checkmate in Chess

Unit 8Endgame basics

  1. The Rule of the Square in Chess Endgames
  2. The Opposition in Chess: King Endgame Basics
  3. King and Pawn vs King: How to Win the Ending

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