This mating pattern is called Mayet's Mate because it was famously used by German player Carl Mayet. Mayet was a member of the Berlin Pleiades, a 19th century group composed of seven German chess masters (the group was named after the star constellation the Pleiades, hence the icon on the card, representing the constellation).
The pattern involves a Bishop and a Rook attacking the opponent's King on the back rank. The Rook, protected by the Bishop, delivers mate from a square adjacent to the King. Opposite to the Rook, the King is obstructed by its own pieces. Unlike in the Opera Mate, the Bishop does not control any escape squares. In the simplified example shown in the diagram above, White uses the pattern and wins with 1.Rd8#.
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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 Mayet'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.
This is another excellent lesson by GM Gabuzyan for the ChessMood channel. Mayet’s Mate is presented here with many in-depth examples. Don’t skip this.
In this YouTube short, Coach Daniel Greiner presents a fascinating Chess.com puzzle that ends with a beautiful Mayet’s mate. Have a look at it; you won’t be disappointed.
This book is an adaptation of the exceptional work that Raf Mesotten aka. CraftyRaf originally did for his much-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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