How smothered mate works
A knight check cannot be blocked, because the knight jumps. So a knight check is answered only by capturing the knight or by moving the king. If no piece can take the knight and every square around the king is filled by its own pieces, the king is smothered and it is checkmate.
Philidor's smothered mate pattern
The best-known version needs a queen on the a2-g8 diagonal and a knight that can reach f7, against a king on h8. Nf7+ drives the king to g8. Nh6+ is then a double check from the knight and the queen, so the king must return to h8, because Kf8 allows Qf7 mate. Next the queen is sacrificed on g8: Qg8+ can only be taken by the rook, which now fills the king's last free square, and Nf7 is mate. The pattern is often called Philidor's legacy.
Smothered mates also happen in the opening. One well-known trap in the Caro-Kann Defence runs 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Qe2 Ngf6, and 6.Nd6 is mate, because the e7 pawn is pinned by the queen on e2 and the king on e8 is surrounded by its own pieces.
How to spot and avoid it
Watch for a corner king with its rook beside it and pawns in front, an enemy knight that can reach f7, f2 or a square next to the king, and a queen aimed at g8 or g1. A luft, or keeping a piece that can capture on f7, usually prevents it. Be careful about blocking a check on g8 with a rook when a knight can then reach f7.
Common mistakes
- Ignoring a knight check near a cornered king because the knight seems to be only one piece.
- Answering a check on g8 by capturing with the rook when a knight can jump to f7.
Questions about smothered mate
Which piece delivers a smothered mate?
Always a knight, because it is the only piece whose check cannot be blocked by the pieces surrounding the king.
What is Philidor's legacy?
The queen and knight combination that ends with a queen sacrifice on g8 and a smothered mate by the knight on f7.
Practise it
- Mate in 2 puzzles from real games, with solutions
- The related lesson