Chess lessons › Checkmate patterns
Mating nets
A quiet move with no check can still force mate, by taking the last square or bringing a piece in.
The idea
A quiet move can take the king’s last square and force mate next.
- The knight goes to f6. It gives no check.
- It covers g8, the king’s last free square.
- Then Rh7 is mate, whatever Black plays.
In a game: When no check mates, look for a quiet move that leaves the king no square and no defence.
How the lesson begins
A mating net is a trap around the king: it has no safe square, and the mate cannot be stopped. Not every move that builds the net is a check. A quiet move gives no check, but it can take away the king’s last square, or bring a piece in for the mate.
Here the black king on h8 already has no square to go to. Ng5 gives no check, but it heads for f7, and nothing can stop Nf7#.
- 48. Ng5 a4 49. Nf7#
Find the move
White to move. The first move is quiet, not a check. Find the mate in two.
A hint
The king’s only free square is g8. Which piece can cover it?
Show the answer
38. Nf6 Rb8 39. Rh7#
Nf6 gives no check, but it covers g8, the king’s last flight square (a square the king could run to). Whatever Black plays, Rh7# follows, with the knight guarding the rook.
In numbers
In the puzzle bank
1,916 puzzles in GreyChess’s bank practise it. Half of them are rated between 1,709 and 2,713.
The piece that makes the first move of the answer: pawn 41%, rook 21%, king 13%, queen 9%, bishop 9%, knight 7%, in puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database.