Corner mate

A corner mate is a pattern in which the king is trapped on one of the board's four corner squares. In its most recognizable form, a knight gives the final check while a rook or queen controls nearby escape squares. The edge of the board already removes five possible directions, so only a few pieces are needed to complete the cage.

Archetype

The knight commands the corner

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The knight on c7 attacks a8 and delivers the final check.

Knight check, queen control

The board edge removes five possible directions. Mate is completed by splitting the check and control of the three remaining neighboring squares between two pieces.

1. The knight on c7 attacks a8 and delivers the final check.
2. The queen on b6 controls a7, b7, and b8, the three neighboring squares left beside the edge.

In the knight version, the position is checkmate only if the king cannot capture the knight, move to any of its three neighboring squares, or remove the attack with another piece. One of the king's own pieces, often a pawn, may occupy an exit, while the rook, queen, knight, or another attacker covers the rest.

The label varies among pattern collections. Some use corner mate for any mate delivered to a king in a corner. Others reserve it for knight and rook or queen coordination. This glossary uses the more specific training-pattern sense.

It differs from smothered mate because the king need not be surrounded by its own pieces. It also differs from Arabian mate: in Arabian mate the rook usually checks from an adjacent square while the knight protects it, whereas the knight usually gives check in corner mate.

Own-piece cageArabian mate

The cage comes from within

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The knight on f7 attacks h8 and delivers the final check.

Same knight, different confinement

The knight again gives check, but here the cage does not depend on a white long-range piece: Black's own pieces occupy every neighboring square.

1. The knight on f7 attacks h8 and delivers the final check.
2. The rook on g8 and the pawns on g7 and h7 block all three king exits.