This mating pattern is called Greco's Mate because it was first documented by Italian chess theorist Gioachino Greco in the early 17th century. The name "Greco" is indicative of a Greek heritage, hence the icon on the card representing a Greek helmet on a Greek column capital.
The pattern involves a Bishop and a Rook attacking a weakened castled position. The Bishop contains the opponent's King, and the Rook delivers mate from afar using an open file. In some variations of the pattern, the Rook is replaced by a Queen. In the simplified example shown in the diagram above, White uses the pattern and wins with 1.Rh3#.
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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 Greco'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.
In this video by Jozarov’s chess channel (part of a wider series on checkmates) we can see a brief intro to Greco’s Mate followed by a couple of really instructive examples. Go for it.
This video by Chess Vibes is highly informative (as usual) and presents most checkmate patterns, including Greco’s Mate, with clear explanations and several examples. Don’t skip it.
This book is an adaptation of the exceptional work that Raf Mesotten a.k.a. CraftyRaf originally did for his muc- beloved Chessable course. Complete and extremely well organized.
This book by legendary László Polgár is massive. It has more than 5,000 exercises. Working through it you can develop the intuitive expertise that great players possess. For serious players of all levels.
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