Checkmate: what is it and how to give it

Checkmate is a situation in which the king is attacked (in check) and there is NO move to save him - the game ends immediately, the mating side wins. The word itself comes from the Persian "shah mat": the king is helpless.

In short: There are always at most three solutions to check - the king flees, covers with his own piece, or captures the attacking piece. Checkmate is a check where none of the three works. Below you will check it in practice by checkingmate in two moves on the interactive board.

Check, checkmate, stalemate - three different things

• Check: the king is attacked, but has salvation - it must be used immediately, in the same move.
• Checkmate: the king is attacked and there is no rescue. End of the game, victory of the mating side. The king is never physically beaten.
• Pat: The king is NOT attacked, but the moving side has no legal move - it's a draw, not a win. Details in the article about stalemates and draws.

Checkmate in 2 moves - live

The following position is a real "Mate in 2 moves" problem - first a preparatory move (often a check, to which there is only one answer), then checkmate. A wrong move does not end the trial, and after the second mistake you will receive a hint.

Three rescues from the Shah - and when they fail

1. Ucieczka: the king goes down to a square that no one is attacking. It fails when all the squares around the king are captured or occupied by their own pieces.
2. Veil: own piece stands between the king and the attacker. It fails when checking with a knight (it jumps over screens) and when attacking from an adjacent square.
3. Zbicie: the attacking piece leaves the board. It fails when defended or only beaten by a bound piece.

Checkmate is a position in which all three fail at once - which is why the most effective attacks cut off escape spaces first and only then give check.

Matte Patterns: Matte has names

The most common checkmates are repeated so regularly that they have their own names: last-line checkmate, opera checkmate, Anastasia checkmate, Arab checkmate, shoulder checkmate, and a dozen others. W tactical training there is a separate "Matte Themes" section with 18 named patterns to practice - and the full list of categories can be found in chess tasks.

Matt 1, 2, 3 - what do these terms mean?

„Mat w 2 ruchach" oznacza: istnieje ruch, po którym — niezależnie od obrony przeciwnika — następny Twój ruch daje mata. To standardowy format zadań szachowych: im dłuższa wymuszona sekwencja, tym trudniejsze zadanie. Zaczynając od mata w 1, uczysz się WIDZIEĆ pozycje matowe; przechodząc do mata w 2 i 3 — uczysz się je PRZYGOTOWYWAĆ.

Do you want to systematically master matting? Chapter "Matting" v chess learning course guides you through the most common patterns step by step, and we show the fastest possible mats (and defense against them) on the website rules of the game on the interactive board.

The training works offline after your first online visit on this device. Application installation is not required.