Hello Chess for Children kids, this is Mr.C and today’s topic will be Rook and Knight Checkmates.

Types of Rook and Knight Checkmates.

There are four types of Rook and Knight Checkmates . They are:

1. Anastasia’s Mate
2. The Arabian Checkmate
3. The Corner Checkmate
4. The Hook

We will look over each checkmate in turn and of course at the end there will be a quiz games and puzzles to test your skill and knowledge.

1) Anastasia’a Mate

The basic pattern for Anastasia’s Mate is in the diagrams below:

Let ‘s summarize the position: White is down by a great deal of material so he needs to find mate or resign. 

The Black King has 2 squares g8 and h8.  The Knight can take away the square g8 by checking at e7. Now lets count how many squares the King has..The answer is 1 square the square he is on or h8. Well what is stopping the checkmate? It is the Pawn at h7. What happens when we remove that obstacle with Qh7+? Then the King has 3 squares the squares h8,h7 and h6. What kind of line are those squares along? A straight line is the answer. What piece do we have to take away those squares? The rook when it moves to h3. Finally can Black take the Rook when we move there or block the Rooks path effectively? The answer to both of those questions is no. Since Black has no squares left the result is, of course, checkmate.

2) The Arabian Checkmate

The Arabian Checkmate is named because it appeared in an Arabic manuscript. The position of the mate appears below:

OK, here we go again.  Question 1 how many squares does the Black King have? The King has 3 squares all along the back row.  If we move the Rook to the back row the King will escape to h7 and if we then check on h7 the Black King escapes to g6. So the Rook move is wrong.

Ok that leaves the move Nf6 and Black has 2 choices if he move the Kh8 do you see the mate? Yes, it is Rook to h7.

So if he moves the King to f8 …How many squares does the Black King have?   He has 2 squares e7 & f8.  Rf7 ends the game.

3. The Corner Mate

4. The Hook Mate