Arabian Mate in chess

The Arabian mate is one of the oldest checkmates: a rook gives check next to a king in the corner, and a knight both protects the rook and covers the king's last escape square.

• Enemy king in the corner, your knight two squares away diagonally (for example a knight on f6 against a king on h8).
• Look for a rook check on the square right next to the king that the knight guards.

Solution: 1.Rh7#. Rh7#. The knight protects the rook and covers g8; the rook covers g7. No escape.

Wingo, our coach, never works out chess moves on its own. Stockfish finds the best line, chess.js writes down the facts of the position, and Wingo's explanation is built from that analysis. This is its real answer for "The Arabian mate", unedited (a person checked it before it went on this page).

Side to move: White.
White: king g1, rook a7, knight f6.
Black: king h8.
Material: White 8, Black 0 (White up 8).
Loose/under-defended pieces: none.
Defenders and attackers (verified):
White rook a7: defended by nothing; attacked by nothing.
White knight f6: defended by nothing; attacked by nothing.
Line-ups (verified geometry): White rook a7 and White king g1 are on a diagonal (nothing between them).
White's legal moves (27): rook a7: Ra8+, Rb7, Rc7, Rd7, Re7, Rf7, Rg7, Rh7#, Ra6, Ra5, Ra4, Ra3, Ra2, Ra1; knight f6: Nd7, Ne8, Ng8, Nh7, Nh5, Ng4, Ne4, Nd5; king g1: Kf2, Kg2, Kh2, Kh1, Kf1.
Engine best line: 1.Rh7# — forced mate in 1 for White.
Best move theme: checkmate.

Our mistake finder checks your recent games with Stockfish and lists the 3 mistakes you repeat most. Missed Arabian mates are counted under "Missing checkmates". Every mistake it finds becomes a puzzle from your own game, so you practise exactly the positions you got wrong.

Puzzles tell you a Arabian mate is there. In a game nobody does. Play Sharp Idris, one of our bots that think at a human pace and make human mistakes, and look for the pattern yourself. The coach can point it out afterwards if you miss it.