Smothered mate puzzles
A knight checkmates a king that is boxed in by its own pieces, so it has no square to go to.
The classic pattern ends with a queen sacrifice next to the king, forcing a rook to take it and close the last escape square, then the knight mate.
8 real puzzles from games on Lichess, easiest first, rated 645 to 2183. The course has 201 smothered mate puzzles in all.
Puzzle 1 · rated 645
Black just played Ne7. White to move.
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8. Nf6#
Puzzle 2 · rated 840
White just played Bxe4. Black to move.
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36... Ng3#
Puzzle 3 · rated 1023
Black just played Qe5. White to move.
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26. Qf8+ Rxf8 27. Rxf8+ Ng8 28. Nf7#
Puzzle 4 · rated 1273
Black just played g6. White to move.
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9. Nxd6#
Puzzle 5 · rated 1456
White just played Rf1. Black to move.
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21... Qg1+ 22. Rxg1 Nf2#
Puzzle 6 · rated 1625
Black just played Kh8. White to move.
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23. Nf7+ Kg8 24. Nh6+ Kh8 25. Qg8+ Nfxg8 26. Nf7#
Puzzle 7 · rated 1793
Black just played Nxd3. White to move.
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23. Qg8+ Nxg8 24. Nf7#
Puzzle 8 · rated 2183
White just played Nd6+. Black to move.
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12... Nf3+ 13. Kh1 Qg1+ 14. Rxg1 Nf2#
Free, no sign-up. Puzzles come in order of difficulty and the ladder adjusts to how you solve.
Puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0). Every line was replayed move by move by the course's rules engine. Part of Chess Path, a free chess course. Free coach for your Chess.com and Lichess games.