Meaning & use
smothered mate
In chess, a checkmate delivered by a knight against a king that is trapped by its own pieces.
See it in a sentence
The grandmaster delivered a smothered mate, trapping the king behind its own defenders.
Beginners study smothered mate patterns because the knight sacrifice looks surprising at first.
A note on using this word
The king cannot escape because friendly pieces block every square, so only a knight, which jumps over pieces, can deliver this mate.
Words with a similar meaning
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