TacticsPlay as white

Double Check and Smothered Mate

Two checks at once cannot be blocked — and a king boxed in by its own pieces cannot survive one.

Introduction

Against a single check you have three answers: move the king, block, or capture the checker. Against a double check only one remains — the king must move. That is what makes the double check the most forcing move in chess, and it is what makes the smothered mate possible.

Lesson Content

Try this position

The white queen on d3 is aiming at h7 along the b1-h7 diagonal, with White's own knight on e4 in the way. The black king is on h7. Whatever the knight does, the queen starts checking — and if the knight also attacks the king, there are two checks at once — which no single move can answer, so the king has to walk into whatever White has waiting.

Double CheckDiscovered Attack

Try this position

1. ..♘︎f6+

Move the knight to a square where it attacks the king too.

♘︎f6+ — Double check: the knight on f6 attacks h7 and the queen on d3 attacks it as well. Black cannot block and cannot capture both — the king has to go to h8.

Double Check

Alternative Moves

♘︎g5+ — This is also a double check, but from g5 the knight lets the king run to g8 and out via f8. The knight must cover the escape squares, not just check.

Try this position

2. ♕︎h7#

The knight defends the square your queen wants.

♕︎h7# — Checkmate. The queen is defended by the knight on f6, and that same knight covers g8 — the king's last square.

Smothered MateMating Net

Try this position

A smothered mate is the same idea taken to its conclusion: the king on h8 is hemmed in by its own pawns on g7 and h7, so a knight on f7 would be checkmate — if only the g8-square were also blocked. Black's bishop on e6 can be persuaded to block it.

Smothered Mate

Try this position

3. ♖︎f8+

Give check on the eighth rank and see what Black is forced to block with.

♖︎f8+ — The rook offers itself on f8. Black's only answer is 1. ..♗︎g8, blocking with the bishop — and that fills the last free square around the king.

Smothered MateSacrifice

Alternative Moves

♖︎f3 — Chasing the black knight on e3 throws away the forced smothered mate: Black gets in first with 1...♖︎d1+, and ♘︎f7 never comes.

Try this position

3. ..♘︎f7#

The king has no squares left. Just give check.

♘︎f7# — Checkmate — the smothered mate. Every square around the black king is occupied by a black piece, and the only piece that could take on f7, the bishop on g8, is pinned to its king by the rook on f8.

Smothered Mate

Try this position

The white rook on g1 is aiming up the g-file at the black king, with White's own pawn on g6 in between. Which move opens the file and gives a second check at the same time?

Double Check

Try this position

Why can a double check never be answered by a capture or a block?

Double Check

Key Takeaways

A double check forces a king move — nothing else is legal.
The checking pieces have to cover the escape squares, not just give check.
Smothered mate: a knight mates a king that its own pieces have boxed in.

Now play it through

Step through every move on a real board, try the wrong ones, and ask Knighty why they fail.

Practice Interactively

Related Lessons

Clearance and Interference

Mate in Five

Deflection and Decoy

Summary

A double check is the one move your opponent cannot answer with material. Look for it whenever one of your pieces stands in front of a rook, bishop or queen that is aimed at the enemy king — and when that king is surrounded by its own pieces, look for the knight.

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Practice Interactively

Next in this course

Mating Patterns

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