In a smothered mate the mated king is unable to move because he is surrounded (or smothered) by his own pieces. Therefor a smothered mate can only be delivered by a knight. We have seen an example of a smothered mate before in the lesson about the Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

This lesson deals with the most common form of smothered mate as shown by the diagram on the left side. The knight delivers mate to the king which is prevented from escaping the check by the rook and the pawns.

As an illustrative example the game Jan Timman – Nigel Short at the 1990 Tilburg tournament is given.

Try to learn these last moves very well.

Next lesson a square rule for separated pawns will be presented.