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TacticsPlay as white

Dovetail Mate

A protected queen stands diagonally next to the king, and the king's own pieces fill the two squares she does not cover — the dovetail.

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Introduction

The dovetail mate — also called Cozio's mate — is a queen mate with no help from the edge of the board. The queen stands diagonally next to the king, protected by a bishop, a pawn or another piece, and covers every square around him except two: those two are filled by the king's own pieces, like the two halves of a dovetail joint.

Lesson Content

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The dovetail mate is a queen standing diagonally next to the king, protected, while the king's own pieces block the two squares she cannot reach. Black's king has walked to g5 with pawns on g7 and h6 beside it. White's queen on d6 and bishop on h3 are ready: Qf4+ drives the king to g6 or h5, and on either square the queen mates next move, protected by the bishop — Qf5 against g6, Qg4 against h5.

Mating NetKing Attack
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1. ..Qf4+

Qf4+ checks the king from the diagonal. It has two squares, g6 and h5 — f6, f5 and h4 are the queen's, g4 belongs to the bishop, h6 is its own pawn. On g6, Qf5 is checkmate; on h5, Qg4 is checkmate. Either way the queen lands diagonally next to the king, guarded by the bishop on h3, and Black's pawns on g7 and h6 block the escape.

Mating NetKing Attack
Alternative Moves
Qe5+ — Qe5+ is a check too, but the black queen on c3 covers e5: 1...Qxe5 takes the queen for nothing, and White has thrown away a won game.
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2. Qf5#

Checkmate. The queen on f5 stands diagonally next to the king on g6, protected by the bishop on h3. She covers f7, f6, g5, h5 and — through the king — h7; the two squares she does not reach, g7 and h6, are filled by Black's own pawns. That is the dovetail.

Mating NetKing Attack
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No bishop this time — a pawn does the guarding. Black's king has been dragged to d4, in the middle of the board, with its own pawns on c4 and d5 next to it. White's queen on e7 can drop to e3, protected by the pawn on f2: from there she covers every square around the king that the pawns do not already fill, and it is checkmate.

Mating NetKing Attack
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3. Qe3#

Checkmate in the middle of the board. The queen on e3 stands diagonally next to the king, guarded by the f2-pawn; c3, d3, e4 and e5 are hers, c5 lies on her diagonal behind the king, and c4 and d5 are Black's own pawns. The dovetail needs no edge and no corner — only the king's own pieces.

Mating NetKing Attack
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Black's queen on d5 and bishop on d4 are aiming at White's king, so White needs a mate now. The black king on g7 has pawns on g6 and h7 beside it, and White's bishop on d6 controls f8. Which move is checkmate?

Mating NetKing Attack
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What do the two "dovetail" squares have in common?

Mating Net

Key Takeaways

  • The queen must be protected on the mating square — a bishop, a pawn or a knight will do.
  • Count the squares around the king: the two the queen does not cover must be blocked by the king's own pieces.
  • It works anywhere on the board — the king's own pieces are the walls, not the edge.

Now play it through

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

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Related Lessons

Double Bishop Mate

Sacrifice and King Attack

Anastasia's Mate

Summary

Dovetail mate: a protected queen diagonally next to the king, covering everything around him except the two squares his own pieces already fill. Look for a king whose own pawns or pieces stand beside it, then find the protected diagonal square.

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Next in this course

Hook Mate

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