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  • Lesson 20 of 32
  • Checkmate patterns
  • 3 min

Smothered Mate in Chess: The Knight's Checkmate

A smothered mate is given by a knight alone, against a king buried by its own army. You met one in the checkmate lesson. Here you learn to set it up, with a queen sacrifice so well known that it has a name.

Step 1 of 4

  1. Buried by its own pieces

    The black king on h8 can't move: its rook on g8 and its pawns on g7 and h7 fill every square around it. The white knight on f7 gives check, and nothing can block a knight's check, because the knight jumps. No black piece can reach f7 to take it. That is a smothered mate.

  2. Give up the queen

    The knight on h6 can jump to f7 with check, but not yet: the rook on f8 would take it. First fill g8 with a black piece. Check with your queen on g8: the king can't take her, because the knight guards that square, so the rook on f8 has to. Now the king is buried, and the rook no longer guards f7.

    Your move

    Checkmate in two moves.

  3. Philidor's Legacy

    This four-move combination is famous enough to have a name: Philidor's Legacy. Find the four-move mate. Every move is a check, one of them is a double check, and the last one is a smothered mate.

    Your move

    Checkmate in four moves, starting with a knight check.

  4. Why the knight?

    A smothered mate is always given by a knight. What makes the knight right for the job?

    Question

What you learned

  • A smothered mate is a knight check against a king surrounded by its own pieces.
  • A queen sacrifice on g8 can force a black piece onto the king's last free square.
  • Philidor's Legacy: knight check, double check, queen sacrifice, smothered 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

Lessons for every game

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