Greco's mate
Also known as Greco's checkmate
A queen-and-bishop team mate on the edge. The bishop, raking the a2-g8 diagonal, locks the door at g8 while the king's own g7-pawn seals the only other flight square. The queen then steps onto the h-file and checks the cornered king with no escape.
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How it works
The black king sits in the corner on h8 with just three would-be escape squares: g8, g7 and h7. The white bishop on c4 sees all the way to g8 along the light diagonal, taking that square away. The king's own pawn on g7 blocks the g7 escape. When the queen lands on h5, she controls the whole h-file, covering h7 and giving check on h8. Every escape is gone and nothing can block or capture, so it is mate.
How to spot it
Look for an enemy king tucked into the corner (h8 or h1) behind its own untouched g-pawn, with no defenders nearby. If your bishop can reach the long light diagonal to cover the g8 corner-escape, you only need to bring the queen to the h-file. It often appears after a kingside attack where the defender has castled and kept its g-pawn, leaving the king boxed in by its own shelter.
Key ideas
- The defender's own g-pawn becomes the jailer, blocking the king's escape
- A bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal smothers the g8 corner-flight square
- The queen delivers the blow along the open h-file at the board's edge
- Bishop and queen cover every escape between them; no single piece could do it alone
- Remove either the bishop or the g-pawn and the king simply walks out
Famous example
Named after the 17th-century Italian master Gioachino Greco, whose published games popularised this corner mate. It is a cousin of the queen-and-bishop battery seen in many Italian Game and Two Knights attacks.