What is Legal's Mate?
Checkmate Patterns : Legal's Mate Explained
Legal's Mate
A queen sacrifice leads to checkmate by knights and bishop, exploiting the weak f7 square.
Légal's Mate is a famous checkmate pattern arising from a queen sacrifice in the opening. Named after the French chess master Sire de Légal (1702–1792).
This pattern got its name from the French player Sire De Legal, who used it for the first time in the 18th century.Board is interactive - move a piece
Example Game
White apparently blunders the queen by playing 5.Nxe5, allowing 5...Bxd1. However, after 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 7.Nd5#, it is checkmate. Légal's Mate only works if the opponent captures the queen; an aware defender should decline the sacrifice.