There is a term for sure.. heard it from levy rosman.. just a min.. i will check it
Chess term for forced checkmate with all only-moves?

Just a forced mate, or losing position Overall this happens very often, for example, you deliver checkmate with your queen and king, and your queen gives to your opponent's king only one square to move while you lead your king to deliver mate

zugzwang is when every possible move in a given position is a bad move. I think "forced checkmates" already stands for "a checkmate where opponent can only play one legal move" but is often used improperly to indicate an unstoppable mate.

zugzwang is when every possible move in a given position is a bad move. I think "forced checkmates" already stands for "a checkmate where opponent can only play one legal move" but is often used improperly to indicate an unstoppable mate.
Hmm, is that common usage of "forced checkmate in 5 moves" improper just because there are multiple defense tries? That doesn't seem right to me.
I thought there was a different term for when there is only one possible legal move that the defender can play. In general use "forcing lines" to refer to lines where the opponent doesn't have many choices, but this sometimes just means that there are legal choices and all-but-one are just clearly bad.

There is a term for sure.. heard it from levy rosman.. just a min.. i will check it
I think I learned it from a YouTuber, like Rosman or Naroditsky, some years ago. But obviously I don't remember the term and it doesn't get used often. Perhaps it's a word that's not widely known (e.g. perhaps Naroditsky coined it, or knows it from an old chess book).

Zugzwang??
Not it. Zugzwang refers to a position where all legal moves (whether there are 1 or many legal moves) are worse than being able to pass one's turn without moving. E.g. Perhaps the position would be drawn if passing were legal, but since the player has to make a move they are losing.

zugzwang is when every possible move in a given position is a bad move. I think "forced checkmates" already stands for "a checkmate where opponent can only play one legal move" but is often used improperly to indicate an unstoppable mate.
Hmm, is that common usage of "forced checkmate in 5 moves" improper just because there are multiple defense tries? That doesn't seem right to me.
I thought there was a different term for when there is only one possible legal move that the defender can play. In general use "forcing lines" to refer to lines where the opponent doesn't have many choices, but this sometimes just means that there are legal choices and all-but-one are just clearly bad.
You're right, mine wasn't a formal definition but rather a way in which I differentiate the two: with "forced mate" I use to indicate a mate with a unique line and with "unstoppable mate" when there are multiple lines that all lead to mate. A matter of subtlety, however if you say that there is a technical term to indicate it I fear that this messages of mine are just noise.

mate with a unique line and with unstoppable mate = forced mate
multiple lines that all lead to mate = mating net
Welcome!
Not the distinction I'm looking for.

would zugzwang still be a word you could call forced mate because they have to get mated and there is no other good moves?

There isn't any unique term for a forced mate where the defender has no choice of lines.
And that's a bit odd, because there ARE unique terms for A LOT of other things... such as a mate where each square is covered only once (a pure mate), a mate where the King is entirely trapped by his own piece (a smothered mate), a mate where the King is trapped on the back rank by his own Pawns (a corridor mate), a mate by crossed Bishops (Boden's mate), a mate with two Rooks forcing the King to the edge of the board (stepladder mate)... and so on.


While blueemu has played much more chess than i, what he described as "a corridor mate" i would (and have many times) called this "a backrow mate."
Is there a term in chess for the particular kind of forced checkmate sequence where every move that your opponent makes in the line is the only legal move that they can make?