Chess checkmates

right|thumb|upright=1.35|White and Black in chess|Black is checkmated and loses the game.

checkmate delivered by Black on move 2 with the queen; an extraordinary blunder by White

checkmate position (1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5 Nf6 4. Qxf7#)

chess opening trap involving White’s queen sacrifice followed by checkmate with minor pieces if Black accepts the sacrifice

checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because he is surrounded (or smothered) by his own pieces

checkmate delivered by a rook or queen along a back rank in which the mated king is unable to move up the board because the king is blocked by friendly pieces (usually pawns) on the second rank

A helpmate is a type of chess problem in which both sides cooperate in order to achieve the goal of checkmating Black. In a helpmate in n moves, Black moves first, then White, each side moving n times, to culminate in White's nth move checkmating Black. (In a helpmate in 2 for example, sometimes abbreviated h#2, the solution consists of a Black move, a White move, a second Black move, then a second White move, giving checkmate.) Although the two sides cooperate, all moves must be legal according to the rules of chess.

chess pattern that produces checkmate

chess endgame with a king, bishop, and knight against a lone king, which can almost always be checkmated with perfect play in at most 33 moves

checkmate pattern using bishops on two crisscrossing diagonals

model mate involving all pieces of both players

checkmating position such that the mated king is attacked exactly once and prevented from moving to any of the adjacent squares in its field for exactly one reason per square

pure mate where the checkmated king and all vacant squares in its field are attacked only once, squares in the king’s field occupied by friendly units are not attacked, and all units of the mating side participate in the mate

checkmate position such that all of the attacker’s remaining knights, bishops, rooks and queens contribute to the mating attack