Blackburne's mate
Also known as Blackburne's checkmate
Blackburne's mate is a dazzling diagonal crossfire: two bishops on parallel diagonals and a supporting knight trap a castled king. One bishop seals the long dark diagonal while the other slices in to deliver check, with the knight guarding the checking square so the king cannot take.
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How it works
The king sits on g8 behind a thinned shelter. The light-squared bishop checks from h7 along the b1–h7 diagonal. The king's flights are all sealed: the dark-squared bishop on b2 rakes the a1–h8 diagonal to cover g7 and h8; the knight on g5 guards h7, so the king cannot capture the checking bishop; and f7 and f8 are blocked by Black's own pawn and rook. With no capture, no block and no flight, it is mate.
How to spot it
Look for it against a castled king whose g7 or h7 cover has been loosened. The recipe is two bishops aimed at the kingside (typically from b2 and the b1–h7 diagonal) plus a knight that can reach g5 to guard h7. A bishop sacrifice on h7 often demolishes the last pawn and lands the mate in one stroke, especially when the defender's own rook on f8 helpfully blocks an escape.
Key ideas
- Two bishops on parallel diagonals create a crossfire no single king can escape
- The knight's job is to guard the checking square so Kxh7 is impossible
- The dark-squared bishop on the long diagonal locks down g7 and h8
- The victim's own pieces (rook on f8, pawn on f7) seal the remaining flights
- A bishop sacrifice on h7 frequently triggers the pattern
- Named after Joseph Henry Blackburne, a fierce 19th-century attacker
Famous example
Named after Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841–1924), the British attacking master nicknamed "the Black Death", who wielded swashbuckling bishop-and-knight kingside attacks against the strongest players of his era.