Tactic · advanced
Smothered Mate in chess
Philidor's Legacy: checks, a queen sacrifice, and a knight mate against a king trapped by its own pieces.
touch_appSolve it yourself. A wrong move gets explained, not just marked wrong.
What a smothered mate is
Philidor's Legacy: checks, a queen sacrifice, and a knight mate against a king trapped by its own pieces.
The puzzle, solved
Smothered Mate (advanced, White to move)add
Philidor's Legacy: checks, a queen sacrifice, and a knight mate against a king trapped by its own pieces. Solution: 1.Nf7+ Kg8 2.Nh6+ Kh8 3.Qg8+ Rxg8 4.Nf7#. 1.Nf7+ Kg8 2.Nh6+ (double check: knight and queen) Kh8 3.Qg8+!! Rxg8 4.Nf7#. The queen sacrifice forces the rook onto g8, so the king is boxed in by its own pieces and the knight mates.
How to spot it in your games
- Start with a knight check on f7. The queen on c4 lines up with g8.
When players miss it: "Missing checkmates"
When the coach analyses your games, missed smothered mate are counted under "Missing checkmates". When the enemy king is short of squares, look at every check first. Checks are the most forcing moves.