Arabian mate

Meaning

Noun

• A checkmate pattern in which a rook provides the checkmate to the cornered king while being protected by a knight that also covers the only would-be escape square.

Origin

• Possibly named such because the pattern was also possible in shatranj, the Middle Eastern predecessor to chess which included rooks and knights but had many other differences.
• According to various sources, the mate is described in an eighth century Arabic manuscript, but this claim could not be substantiated. The pattern, however, does appear as a solution to a position presented in an anonymous Arabic-language manuscript that was copied in 1257 (original source of material unknown).