Checkmate patterns
The dovetail mate
The queen mates from a square diagonally next to the king, supported by another piece, while the king's own two pieces sit on the squares that would have saved it. Also called Cozio's mate, and the shape of the blocked squares is where the name comes from.
How to spot it
A king in the open with exactly two of its own pieces beside it is the signal. Count the flight squares: if the two blockers cover them, the queen only needs a supported square adjacent to the king, and the support is what to arrange first.
The positions
Easiest first. Every one is from a real game, and the rating under each board is what it costs the players who have tried it on lichess.
-
1. Black to play Play it out →Answer
24...Rh4+ 25.Kg2 Qh3#
-
2. White to play Play it out →Answer
25.Rh1+ Kg6 26.Qh5#
-
3. White to play Play it out →Answer
28.exf6+ Kxf6 29.Qe5#
-
4. Black to play Play it out →Answer
23...Rxd2+ 24.Qxd2 Qc4#
-
5. White to play Play it out →Answer
11.Bh3+ e6 12.Qxe6#
-
6. White to play Play it out →Answer
24.g5+ Kxg5 25.Qf4#
-
7. White to play Play it out →Answer
25.Rxh7+ Kxh7 26.Qh5+ Kg7 27.Qh6#
-
8. White to play Play it out →Answer
28.Rf8+ Kc7 29.Rxc8+ Rxc8 30.Qd6#
-
9. White to play Play it out →Answer
21.Bf6+ Kxf6 22.Qg5#
-
10. White to play Play it out →Answer
41.Qb4+ Kc7 42.Qd6#
-
11. White to play Play it out →Answer
36.Rc8+ Kd7 37.Qb7+ Kd6 38.Qc7#
-
12. White to play Play it out →Answer
34.Bh5+ g6 35.Bxg6+ Ke7 36.Qg7+ Kd8 37.Qxf8+ Kc7 38.Qd6#
Reading about a pattern is the easy half. Motify finds the positions where you missed one, by running your own lichess and Chess.com games through Stockfish, and puts each of them behind two or three puzzles on the same idea so you meet it having just found it three times. See how Motify works.
Positions from the lichess puzzle database, released under CC0.