Anastasia's mate puzzles
82 free anastasia's mate puzzles from real games, rated 893 to 2516. Solve them on the board below; your accuracy feeds your weakness map.
What is a anastasia's mate?
Anastasia's mate uses a knight to cover the king's escape squares from e7 (or e2) while a rook or queen mates along the edge file, usually the h-file.
It often appears after a queen sacrifice on h7 that opens the file. Once you've seen it a dozen times, you start noticing the knight-on-e7 setup in your own games.
Common mistake
Putting the knight on the wrong square. It has to cover g8 and g6, which means e7.
How to spot it
Is the enemy king castled short with a pawn on g7 and a knight of yours able to reach e7?
Can a heavy piece reach the h-file with check?
A sacrifice on h7 or h2 that opens the file is often the first move.
Related themes
- Mate in 1One move, game over. Train the reflex.
- Mate in 2A forcing move, then the finish.
- Mate in 3Longer forcing lines. Calculation practice.
- Back-rank mateThe king trapped behind its own pawns.
- Smothered mateA knight mates a king boxed in by its own pieces.
Let the adaptive drill find your weakest pattern
Puzzles: Lichess puzzle database (CC0), filtered for popularity and play count. See how Weakspot works.