Back-rank mate
The king is stuck behind its own pawns.
Basic form♖e8#
Chess came to Europe through Persia as shatranj. “Shāh māt”, the king is helpless, became our checkmate.
Tactics · Combinations · Mating patterns
Every combination has a pattern.
Behind every sacrifice there is a picture that repeats itself: the back rank, the smothered king, the double check. chessepolis shows these pictures in the games of the great and turns them into puzzles to solve yourself.
12mating patterns
10combinations
1750oldest game
White mates in two
Morphy, Paris 1858White to move. Click a piece, then its target square – or drag it.
Queen sacrifice
Back rank
Treasury of mating patterns
12 pictures you never forget.
Every mating pattern gets a page of its own with its basic form, games and puzzles. The red square shows the king that is mated.
Smothered mate
The knight mates, the king’s own pieces block every escape.
Basic form♘f7#
Arabian mate
Rook and knight, already known in the old Persian and Arabic manuscripts.
Basic form♖h7#
Anastasia’s mate
The knight blocks, the rook strikes along the edge.
Basic form♖h5#
Boden’s mate
Two bishops cross in front of the long-castled king.
Basic form♗a6#
Epaulette mate
The king’s own rooks sit beside it like epaulettes.
Basic form♕e6#
Légal’s mate
Knight and bishop, after the queen bait
Légal – Brie, 17507.♘d5#
Minor-piece mate
Three small pieces against the whole black army
Anderssen – Kieseritzky, 185123.♗e7#
Opera mate
Rook on the back rank, bishop covers
Morphy – Isouard, 185817.♖d8#
Réti’s mate
Double check, then the bishop
Réti – Tartakower, 191011.♗d8#
King hunt
The king is driven all the way to g1
Lasker – Thomas, 191218.♔d2#
Fischer’s net
Rook, bishop and knight surround the king
Byrne – Fischer, 195641…♖c2#
Apadana · Combinations of the great
From Légal to Kasparov: the decisive blow.
10 famous combinations, in the order of their years. The golden arrow shows the move that decided the game. Later every player gets a page of their own.
Légal’s Mate
Kermur de Légal – Saint Brie, Paris
5.♘xe5 The queen as bait
The Immortal Game
Adolf Anderssen – Lionel Kieseritzky, London
22.♕f6+ The queen falls, then the king
The Evergreen Game
Adolf Anderssen – Jean Dufresne, Berlin
21.♕xd7+ Queen against everything
Rubinstein’s Immortal
Georg Rotlewi – Akiba Rubinstein, Łódź
22…♖xc3 Rook sacrifice, then the bishop pair
Réti’s Miniature
Richard Réti – Savielly Tartakower, Vienna
9.♕d8+ Queen sacrifice on d8
The King Hunt
Edward Lasker – George Alan Thomas, London
11.♕xh7+ The king has to walk
The Gold Coins Game
Stepan Levitsky – Frank Marshall, Breslau
23…♕g3 The queen into a triple attack
Botvinnik’s Masterpiece
Mikhail Botvinnik – José Raúl Capablanca, AVRO, Netherlands
30.♗a3 The bishop gives itself for the centre
The Game of the Century
Donald Byrne – Bobby Fischer, New York
17…♗e6 Fischer gives up the queen
Kasparov’s Immortal
Garry Kasparov – Veselin Topalov, Wijk aan Zee
24.♖xd4 Rook sacrifice and king hunt
The evaluations of Stockfish will follow.
Hall of a Hundred Columns
Practise by motif and level.
Puzzles from two sources: combinations Stockfish finds in classical games, and a selection from the free Lichess collection. Your progress stays in your own browser, without an account.
Twelve motifs
puzzle counts to follow
Column I
Fork
One piece attacks two targets at once. The knight is its best-known master.
Enter column →
Column II
Pin
A piece may not or cannot move, because a more valuable one behind it would fall.
Enter column →
Column III
Skewer
The reverse pin: the valuable piece stands in front, has to move and gives up the one behind.
Enter column →
Column IV
Discovered attack
A piece moves away and opens the line of another. With check it becomes a discovered check.
Enter column →
Column V
Double check
Two pieces give check at once. Blocking or capturing cannot help, only the king can move.
Enter column →
Column VI
Deflection
A defender is lured away from its job, and the position behind it collapses.
Enter column →
Column VII
Decoy
A sacrifice forces an enemy piece, usually the king, onto a fatal square.
Enter column →
Column VIII
Overloading
One piece has two jobs at once and in the end manages neither.
Enter column →
Column IX
Clearance
A square or a line is cleared so that another piece can use it.
Enter column →
Column X
Intermezzo
Instead of the expected reply comes a stronger threat first, often with check.
Enter column →
Column XI
Mate in 1
See the mating picture: back rank, smothered king, Arabian mate.
Enter column →
Column XII
Mate in 2–3
Force the mating picture: first the sacrifice, then mate, as Morphy did in 1858.
Enter column →
Five levels proposal
I
PupilMate in 1, simple forks
up to 1200II
GuardianPin, skewer, back rank
1200–1600III
SatrapTwo-movers, deflection, discovered attack
1600–2000IV
VizierThe sacrificial combinations of the great
2000–2400V
ShahDeep combinations, quiet moves
from 2400Mansubat
Mating problems from the days of shatranj
Long before modern chess, Persian and Arab masters wrote down mating problems, the mansubat. Some can be set up with today’s rules, others show how differently the pieces moved back then.
Only chessepolis has this section: old problems, explained anew, with a board and the solution.
Ferzthe old queen, moves one square diagonally
Alfilthe old bishop, jumps two squares diagonally
Goalas today: the shah has no square left
One family, four houses
Every phase of the game has its place.
OpeningchesstotelesTrees, nets and courses
TacticschessepolisCombinations and mating patterns
MiddlegamechessophosPlans and structures
EndgamechessophiaTechnique and knowledge