Mating Pattern: Anastasia's Mate
In chess, there are a variety of matting patterns. All follow basic principles: limit the king from any square he can move to while threatening him without retaliation from the other pieces. Commonly found is the Anastasia's Mate, used frequently when "storming" a castled position.
The Anastasia's Mate is characterized by the following guidelines:
- Must involve a king in or adjacent to a corner square
- Needs to use both the knight and a rook
- The knight must be limiting two of the king's escape squares
- There must be a pawn obstructing the king's escape, and a piece on the back rank - or whichever row or column the king stands upon
- The rook must deliver the final mate
Example 1:
Example 2:
Still not convinced? See it here, in a master game (full credit to Mark Lowery for finding this wonderful example online!):
