Glossary

Attacking terms and mating patterns explained

In this lesson you will learn

The names of the classic mating patterns
The attacking and defensive terms used in this course

Anastasia's mate: A mate by rook (or queen) and knight against a king on the edge, with the knight covering the escape squares.
Arabian mate: Rook and knight mate a king in the corner: the rook checks next to the king, the knight protects it.
Back rank: The first rank for White, the eighth for Black. A king trapped there behind its own pawns can be mated by a rook or queen.
Battery: Two pieces lined up on the same file or diagonal, the front piece supported by the one behind it.
Boden's mate: A mate by two bishops on crossing diagonals, usually against a king castled queenside.
Counter-attack: Answering an attack by creating threats of your own, so that the opponent must stop and defend.
Deflection: Forcing a defending piece to leave the square or line it was guarding.
Double check: A check by two pieces at once. The only answer is a king move.
Epaulette mate: A queen mate against a king whose own rooks stand on both sides of it.
Exchange sacrifice: Giving a rook for a bishop or knight, often to remove a key defender.
Greek Gift: The bishop sacrifice ♗xh7+ (or ♗xh2+) against a castled king, usually followed by ♘g5+ and a queen move.
Hook: A pawn that has moved forward in front of the king and can be attacked by the opponent's pawns, opening a file.
King's box: The squares around the king. For mate, every one must be blocked or attacked.
Luft: An escape square for the king, usually made by a pawn move such as
Morphy's mate: A bishop mates along the long diagonal while a rook covers the next file.
Opposite-side castling: One king castles kingside, the other queenside. Both sides can storm with pawns.
Pawn storm: Advancing several pawns towards the enemy king to open files.
Pawn shelter: The pawns in front of a castled king.
Perpetual check: An endless series of checks that the opponent cannot escape. The game is drawn by repetition.
Rook lift: Bringing a rook into the attack along the third or fourth rank, for example ♖e3 and ♖g3.
Sacrifice: Deliberately giving up material to gain something more important, such as mate or a decisive attack.
Smothered mate: A knight mate against a king surrounded by its own pieces.
Supported mate: A queen (or rook) mates next to the king, protected by another piece.