Smothered mate — Chess Puzzles

Solve free «Smothered mate» chess puzzles from the lichess database, from beginner to master. No account needed.

A smothered mate is delivered by a knight against a king surrounded entirely by its own pieces. Nothing can capture the knight and nothing can block it, because a knight jumps. The famous version, sometimes called Philidor's legacy, arrives by force: a queen sacrifice fills the last escape square with the defender's own rook, and the knight mates on the square that is left.

How to spot it

• The enemy king sits in the corner with its own pieces on the squares around it.
• You have a knight that can reach a square giving check next to the king.
• One flight square is still open, and a queen check can force a friendly piece onto it.
• The knight can never be blocked, so only a capture of the knight can save the defender — check whether anything can take it.

A worked example

White: king g1, knight e5, rook c1, pawns c2, f2 and g2. Black: king h8, queen a4, rook g8, pawns a5, b4, f5, g7 and h7. White to move.

1. Nf7 checks from a square nothing can interfere with — a knight's check can never be blocked.
2. Every square around the black king is occupied by a black piece: the rook on g8 and the pawns on g7 and h7.
3. The queen on a4 is far away and irrelevant. Being a queen up does not help when the king cannot move.

The idea The defender is not short of pieces — it is smothered by them, and the knight is the only piece that can mate a king whose every neighbouring square is already taken.