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Checkmate Patterns

The mates that end real games, one pattern per chapter. You learn the shape of each net, what makes it hold and how to build it, then drill it with a puzzle set - and the section closes with ten gauntlets of mate in one and mate in two mixed across every pattern you have learned.

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40 lessons40 challenges

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Syllabus

1 sections40 lessons40 challenges

This section is part of the Tactics & Checkmates Journey. The full syllabus has more sections - click any preview below to view it on the Journey page.

  1. Section 1

    Checkmate Patterns I

    Start sectionStartExpandCollapse    The mates every player must own: the back rank, the support mate, the smothered mate, hooks and Anastasia, ladders and rollers - finished with mate in one and mate in two gauntlets.40 lessons40 challenges

    The Back Rank

    5 lessons5

    Back Rank II

    5 lessons5

    The Support Mate

    5 lessons5

    The Smothered Mate

    5 lessons5

    Hook and Anastasia

    5 lessons5

    Ladder and Rook Roller

    5 lessons5

    Mate in One Gauntlet

    5 lessons5

    Mate in Two Gauntlet

    5 lessons5
  2. Section 2Core Motifs35 lessons
View the full Tactics & Checkmates Journey syllabus
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Meet the Board
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The chessboard is a grid of 64 squares, 32 light and 32 dark, in a pattern where the colors always alternate.

Set it up so that each player has a light square in their bottom-right corner.

Files run up the board and ranks run across it - together they give every square its own name.

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Why learn checkmate patterns with Coddy

  • Each mate has anatomy, and you learn it. The sealed king and who guards the door for the back rank; the queen on the doorstep and every kind of backer for the support mate; the cage he built for the smothered mate. Recognising the parts is how you spot the whole.
  • Building the mate, not just finding it. Every chapter ends on lessons about setting the pattern up - pulling the king onto the file for Anastasia, overworking the guard on the back rank - so you see mates two moves before they exist.
  • The false ones too. False luft, the supported door, the overworked guard: the positions that look like a mate and are not, so your pattern recognition does not also produce blunders.
  • Gauntlets to make it automatic. Five mate-in-one and five mate-in-two sets, mixed across all the patterns, close the section - by the end you are not searching for the mate, you are seeing it.

Frequently asked questions about checkmate patterns

What is a back rank mate?

A rook or queen gives check along the last rank to a king sealed in by its own pawns, with nowhere to run. It is the most common mate in beginner and club games, and the first two chapters cover it: the sealed king, the guard of the door, false escape squares, and breaking through when the rank is defended.

What is a smothered mate?

A knight mates a king that is boxed in by its own pieces, so that a check that could never be blocked or captured is also one the king cannot step out of. The classic form, Philidor's Legacy, uses a queen sacrifice to slam the last door; the chapter teaches the cage, the sacrifice and the finish.

What is Anastasia's mate?

A knight on e7 (or e2) takes the g-file squares away from a castled king on h7, and a rook or queen mates along the h-file. Often the king is first pulled onto the file with a sacrifice. The Hook and Anastasia chapter teaches both the mate and how to build it.

What is the hook mate?

A rook mates the king on the edge while a knight guards the rook and covers an escape square, and a pawn guards the knight - the three pieces hook together. It appears in real games more often than its name suggests, which is why it shares a chapter with Anastasia's mate.

What is a mate-in-one gauntlet?

A set of mate-in-one puzzles drawn from every pattern in the section, with nothing telling you which one it is. Five of them, then five mate-in-two gauntlets, close the section so recognition becomes automatic rather than chapter-by-chapter.

How many checkmate patterns are there?

Around thirty have names. This section teaches the ones that decide the most games - back rank, support mate, smothered mate, hook, Anastasia, the ladder and the rook roller - in 40 lessons; the next section adds Boden's, the Arabian, the double bishop, Damiano's and the rest.
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