Anastasia's mate
Anastasia's mate is a checkmate in which a knight and a rook trap a king on the edge, with the king's own pawn blocking its escape and the rook checking along the edge file.
The pattern uses a knight, a rook or queen, and an enemy king next to the edge with its own pawn beside it. The knight covers the two squares on the next file beside the king, the rook checks along the edge file and takes away the squares above and below the king, and the king's own pawn blocks the last square.
With the black king on h7 and a pawn on g7, the knight on e7 covers g8 and g6. A rook on the h-file gives check, and the king cannot move up or down the file because the rook controls it. Nothing can capture the rook if no black piece reaches the h-file.
To use it, look for a king on the h-file or the a-file with its own pawn beside it and a knight that can land on e7 (or the matching square on the other side). Then switch a rook or queen to the edge file. To defend, avoid leaving your king and its pawn shielded in this way, keep a defender on the edge file, or capture the knight on e7.
In the diagram White to move plays Rh4#. The rook checks the king on h7 along the h-file. The knight on e7 covers g8 and g6, the pawn on g7 blocks the king, and the rook controls h8 and h6, so it is checkmate.
Also worth reading is Arabian mate. An Arabian mate is a corner checkmate where a rook gives the check from beside the king, and a knight, a jump away from the rook, guards it and covers the one flight square the rook leaves open.
A neighboring idea is Boden's mate. Boden's mate is a checkmate in which two bishops attack along diagonals that cross, one giving check and the other cutting off flight squares, while the king's own pieces block the rest.
Compare it with Epaulette mate. An epaulette mate is a checkmate in which a queen checks a king whose two side squares are occupied by its own pieces, usually rooks, so it cannot step sideways.
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Related terms
An Arabian mate is a corner checkmate where a rook gives the check from beside the king, and a knight, a jump away from the rook, guards it and covers the one flight square the rook leaves open.
A smothered mate is a knight checkmate against a king hemmed in by its own men: every square the king could use holds its own pieces, and a knight check cannot be blocked.
Checkmate, or mate, ends a chess game at once: the king of the side to move is under attack, and none of that side's legal moves can remove the attack, so the player who delivered it wins.
A mating net is a setup in which the enemy king is surrounded by attackers and its own pieces so tightly that checkmate cannot be avoided, even if the final blow is a move or two away.
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