The opera mate

A rook walks up to the king, which should lose it, and a bishop three or four squares away is the only reason it does not.

103 positions in the course match this pattern
Lichess rating 650–2262
Section: Checkmate Patterns
Every line verified by the app’s rules engine

The pattern

The pattern, finished. The white king on h1 is in check from the rook on g1, which the bishop on f2 defends. It has three squares to try and none of them work: g2 is covered by the rook on g1; h2 is blocked by its own pawn; the rook on g1 cannot be taken, because the bishop on f2 defends it.

The rook goes to the square beside the king and checks along the rank or the file. On its own this is a blunder: the king takes it. The bishop is what turns the blunder into a mate. Sitting a long way off on a diagonal, it defends the rook, and in most positions it also covers the square the king would use to step diagonally away.

The third element belongs to the defender. One of the squares beside the king is occupied by a piece of its own, almost always a knight or a pawn on the second rank that has not moved. That is the square the rook and the bishop together cannot reach, and the defender is the one holding it.

It is worth knowing that this is not really a back-rank mate. A back-rank mate is a rook or queen checking along the rank with the king's own pawns in front of it and no piece from the mating side anywhere near. Here the rook is adjacent, it needs defending, and the bishop is doing half the work -- which is why it appears in positions where the defender has luft and is not worried about the back rank at all.

What is always true

Each line below was tested against all 103 positions in this course that show the pattern, using the same rules engine the trainer runs on. The build stops if any of them is ever false, so the count beside each one is the real count.

The checking piece is a rook 103/103
That rook stands on a square adjacent to the king 103/103
A bishop defends the rook 103/103
At least one square beside the king is blocked by a piece of its own 103/103

How to spot it

A bishop of yours already aiming through the square next to the enemy king. The bishop usually arrives first and the mate is spotted from it.
An enemy king with a piece of its own on one of the two squares next to it, which is any king that has castled and not moved a pawn.
An open file or rank into the square beside the king, or a way to open one by trading off the defender that holds it.
The defender's rook. It is very often the piece the mating rook has to trade itself against first, which is why the mate arrives one move after an exchange rather than out of nothing.

5 positions to solve

Real games, easiest first. The amber squares are the move your opponent has just played, not the answer. Work it out before you open the solution; the second diagram inside each answer is the finished mate with the trapped king outlined.

Position 1

Black to move. Force the mate.

Show the answer

27.Rxa6 27...Rxb1+ 28.Kxb1 28...Rc1#

The white king on b1 is in check from the rook on c1, which the bishop on h6 defends. It has five squares to try and none of them work: a1 and c2 are covered by the rook on c1; a2 and b2 are blocked by its own pawns; the rook on c1 cannot be taken, because the bishop on h6 defends it.

The position comes from the middlegame of a real game, rated 650 in the Lichess pool and scored there as mate in two. The amber squares on the first diagram are the move your opponent had just played.

Position 2

White to move. Force the mate.

Show the answer

30...Rf7 31.Re8+ Rxe8 32.Rxe8+ Rf8 33.Rxf8#

The black king on g8 is in check from the rook on f8, which the bishop on c5 defends. It has five squares to try and none of them work: f7 and h7 are covered by the queen on g6; h8 is covered by the rook on f8; g7 is blocked by its own bishop; the rook on f8 cannot be taken, because the bishop on c5 defends it.

The position comes from the middlegame of a real game, rated 1369 in the Lichess pool and scored there as mate in three. The amber squares on the first diagram are the move your opponent had just played.

Position 3

Black to move. Force the mate.

Show the answer

44.Rxf6 44...Qh1+ 45.Rxh1 45...Rxh1#

The white king on g1 is in check from the rook on h1, which the bishop on d5 defends. It has five squares to try and none of them work: f1 and h2 are covered by the rook on h1; g2 is covered by the bishop on d5; f2 is blocked by its own pawn; the rook on h1 cannot be taken, because the bishop on d5 defends it.

The position comes from the middlegame of a real game, rated 1612 in the Lichess pool and scored there as mate in two. The amber squares on the first diagram are the move your opponent had just played.

Position 4

Black to move. Force the mate.

Show the answer

32.Qd8 32...Qxh2+ 33.Kxh2 33...Rh3#

The white king on h2 is in check from the rook on h3, which the bishop on d7 defends. It has five squares to try and none of them work: g3 and h1 are covered by the rook on h3; g1 and g2 are blocked by its own pieces; the rook on h3 cannot be taken, because the bishop on d7 defends it.

The position comes from the middlegame of a real game, rated 1833 in the Lichess pool and scored there as mate in two. The amber squares on the first diagram are the move your opponent had just played.

Position 5

Black to move. Force the mate.

Show the answer

23.b4 23...Qxh2+ 24.Kxh2 24...Rh6+ 25.Kg1 25...Rh1#

The white king on g1 is in check from the rook on h1, which the bishop on f3 defends. It has five squares to try and none of them work: f1 and h2 are covered by the rook on h1; g2 is covered by the bishop on f3; f2 is blocked by its own pawn; the rook on h1 cannot be taken, because the bishop on f3 defends it.

The position comes from an endgame of a real game, rated 2262 in the Lichess pool and scored there as mate in three. The amber squares on the first diagram are the move your opponent had just played.

Drill the named mates until you see them 120 positions on the named mating patterns, in five graded levels, in the free Reflex Chess trainer. No account needed to start. Practise named mates

Where the name comes from

It is named for one game: Morphy against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard, played in a box at the Italian Opera in Paris in 1858 during a performance of Bellini's Norma. Morphy finished it with a rook to d8, defended by the bishop on g5, with the black king on e8 walled in by its own pawn on f7. That is the pattern exactly, and it is probably the most reproduced short game in chess.

Easy to confuse with

These are the patterns Opera Mate gets mistaken for. The difference is usually one piece or one square.

Questions people ask

What is the opera mate in chess?

A checkmate in which a rook checks the king from the square next to it and a bishop, further away on a diagonal, defends the rook so the king cannot capture it. One of the king's remaining squares is blocked by a piece of its own.

Why is it called the opera mate?

After the Opera Game: Paul Morphy against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard, played during a performance at the Italian Opera in Paris in 1858 and finished with exactly this pattern.

How is the opera mate different from a back-rank mate?

In a back-rank mate the rook is not next to the king and needs no defender; the king's own pawns in front of it are the whole story. In the opera mate the rook is adjacent, a bishop defends it, and the pattern works even when the king has luft.

All the named mates

One page each, or the whole set as a single motif in the course. The rest of the tactics library is at every motif in the course.