Boden's mate (2 moves)

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In Boden's mate, two bishops on criss-crossing diagonals checkmate the king (a bishop can be replaced with a queen on the diagonal).

Explanation

In this level, you can achieve a Boden's mate in two moves.

Examples

White can sacrifice the queen with Qxc6!
This forces Black to recapture with bxc6, opening the line from a6 to c8.
The pawn has also be deflected away from protecting a6, and White can deliver Boden's mate with Ba6#.

Pattern matching

This is the typical setup for Boden's mate: The opponent's king has castled long, and your bishop controls the diagonal with the escape squares c7 and b8.

Related combinations

As in the example above, smothered mate in two moves often makes use of the open line for checkmate attack combination.