Smothered mate puzzles
A knight gives checkmate to a king boxed in by its own pieces.
About smothered mate puzzles
A knight gives checkmate to a king boxed in by its own pieces. It usually begins with a queen sacrifice that forces a rook onto the corner square.
How to spot it
- Look for a king in the corner surrounded by its own pieces. Only a knight check can be mate.
- The classic idea is to check, sacrifice the queen so the rook captures, then play knight to f7 or a similar square.
- Make sure the knight check cannot be captured.
A common mistake
Starting the queen sacrifice before checking that the knight can reach the mating square.
A worked example
R
QR
N
K
N
N
N
RR
KWhite to move. Black has just played Nxg8. Find the best move.
Solution: 22. Nf7#
Nf7# attacks the queen on d8. The last move is checkmate: the king has no safe square and nothing can block or capture. The idea: A knight gives checkmate to a king boxed in by its own pieces.
The highlighted squares show Black's last move. This position is a different puzzle from the ones you start with above (927 rating).
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Questions
Why does smothered mate need a knight?
A knight does not give a check along a line, so the king's own pieces cannot block it or stop it. The king has no empty squares to flee to.
Where do these puzzles come from?
They are real puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database, which is free to use under the CC0 license. Each one was built from a real game and tested by many players. We picked well-rated ones with good popularity scores.
Are the puzzles free?
Yes. There is no signup, no limit and no ads on the puzzles. Your progress on this page is not saved after you leave.
What do the difficulty levels mean?
Beginner puzzles are rated under 1250, intermediate 1250 to 1749 and advanced 1750 and up, using the rating Lichess players earned on each puzzle.