Arabian mate

Meanings

1. 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.

Etymology

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).