[Event "Damiano's Mate: Damiano's Mate: Sample 1 - Damiano's queue"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/geiyBIs4/8GPkvHJP"] [Result "*"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "?"] [Opening "?"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/fahmisaldi"] [FEN "4qrk1/6p1/5pP1/8/8/8/4P3/2KQ1R1R w - - 0 1"] [SetUp "1"] [UTCDate "2021.07.19"] [UTCTime "10:08:32"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/geiyBIs4/8GPkvHJP"] [Orientation "white"] { Damiano’s mate requires a queen, not just a rook, because in order to inflict mate the final piece has to stand on h7 and attack both h8 and g8. In 1512 Damiano published this application of the point. White has a pawn in place on g6, so his challenge is to get his queen to h7 without losing the initiative. } 1. Rh8+ { He does it by sacrificing the other pieces in the queen’s way—the two rooks—and by doing it in each case with check. Thus 1. Rh8+, KxR; 2. Rh1+, Kg8; 3. Rh8+, KxR; 4. Qh1+, Kg8; 5. Qh7#. } 1... Kxh8 2. Rh1+ Kg8 3. Rh8+ Kxh8 4. Qh1+ Kg8 5. Qh7# { The position is a memorable study in the use of flush checks to firmly and repeatedly decoy a king onto h8 until it finally can be mated there. It also is the classic illustration of how heavy pieces on the first rank can join in a mating attack on the h-file. The principle has many applications, so let us refer to it as Damiano’s queue—a line of pieces on a rank that can be brought over to the same file in succession. } *