When a knight checkmates a king, which is surrounded by its own pieces, it's called a smothered mate. One famous type of smothered mate involves a double check, followed by a queen sacrifice to force checkmate.
American master Paul Morphy spots a forced smothered mate combination. Can you find a knight move that forces the Black king to b8?
If Black moved the king to d8, Qd7 was checkmate, so Black moved to b8. Do you see the smothered mate pattern? Play the next move!
Black's king is forced on the same diagonal as White's queen. It's time for a double check!
A fantastic double check forces Black's king to b8. Let's set up the smothered mate!
Exactly! Black's pieces are smothering the king - deliver checkmate!
