← Booster to 1000
The 10 checkmate patterns you must know
Beginners don't lose because they can't find mate in one — they lose because they never learned the dozen shapes that mate actually takes. Every pattern here has appeared in millions of games and will appear in yours, on both sides of the board. Learn the shape, and the moves find themselves.
1. The back-rank mate (and the deflection that sets it up)
The most common mate in amateur chess. A castled king with unmoved f/g/h pawns lives in a self-made prison — any rook or queen that reaches the back rank ends the game. Here the defender is deflected first.
0 / 3
Start
Press → (or the arrow) to play through the line. Every move has a reason — read it.