Boden's mate

What is Boden's mate?

In Boden's mate two bishops give mate from different directions. One gives check, the other covers the king's last escape squares. Usually the king has castled queenside, and its own pieces are in the way.

The bishops can stand far away, which makes the mate easy to miss. Often the diagonal is opened with a queen sacrifice. The pattern is named after the nineteenth-century English master Samuel Boden. Read more under Boden's mate.

Look for two bishops aiming at the king from different directions, and for the pawn that stands in the way of one of them.

How the puzzles work

There are 150 puzzles here. Choose a level above the board. Within each level the puzzles get harder and harder, and when you come back you pick up where you left off.

Your opponent makes the first move, then it's your turn. If you get stuck, Hint shows which piece to move, and Show the solution plays the rest. The theme only shows once the puzzle is done, but here you already know what you're looking for.

In Puzzle training you get puzzles in this theme at your own level, and see how you're doing in each theme.

More puzzles

• Mate in one
• Mate in two
• Mate in three
• Fork
• Pin
• Skewer
• Discovered attack
• Double check
• Sacrifice
• Deflection
• Attraction
• Hanging piece
• In-between move
• Back-rank mate
• Smothered mate
• Arabian mate
• Anastasia's mate
• Opera mate
• Epaulette mate
• Swallow's tail mate
• Morphy's mate
• Pillsbury's mate
• Promotion
• Endgame
• Rook endgames
• Pawn endgames
• Zugzwang

The puzzles come from Lichess, fetched on November 1, 2026.

Updated November 14, 2026