This mating pattern is called Anastasia's Mate because it was first popularized in 1803 by the novel Anastasia und das Schachspiel (Anastasia and the Game of Chess) by Wilhelm Heinse. The name Anastasia has its roots in a word meaning "resurrection", hence the icon on the card above.
The pattern involves a Knight and a Rook attacking a King on the edge of the board. While the Knight limits the opponent's King's mobility, the Rook delivers mate from afar using an open file. In the simplified example shown in the diagram above, White uses the pattern and wins with 1.Rh1#.
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When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on Anastasia's Mate. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this checkmate pattern.
As a fast intro to Anastasia's Mate look at this short by Alessia Santeramo. First you’ll get the basic idea, then you’ll be challenged by an entertaining puzzle. Go for it.
This is a clear and well-polished intro to 5 basic checkmate patterns by ChessCrafters. Get to know Anastasia’s Mate better in the context of other patterns.
GM Simon Williams has the most fun and entertaining series about checkmates on Chess.com. In this lesson he goes deep on the origins of Anastasia’s Mate and provides many examples.
Regardless of your age, this book by Murray Chandler is a fun and efficient way to learn all the most important checkmate patterns, including Anastasia's Mate. Highly recommended.
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