Greco’s mate is a checkmate pattern that capitalizes on the pressure of the f7 and h7 squares that typically occurs in games.
This Mate often occurs on either the h-file or a-file. So it’s related to other H-file Mates. Using a sacrifice to open up the H-file is a common tactic to use to achieve the positioning required to deliver this mate.
Below, we’ll go move-by-move in an example so you can see how you can do this in future games.
Example
In this example, Black is in a tough situation. In other words, Black is about to lose the game and there’s not much that can be done about it.
White threatens Black with mate in one with Qxh7. To prevent this, Black moves h6.
This only delays the inevitable though.
White then plays Bxf7.
Black doesn’t want to trade their Rook for the Bishop, so they play Kh8.
White then plays Qg6 to set up mate on next move.
Black then takes the sacrificed Knight.
However this only frees up the H file for white to deliver checkmate.
I hope this guide on the Greco’s mate helped you. If you liked this post, you may also be interested in other checkmate patterns like Greco’s Mate and the Reti’s Mate.
