Mating with two Rooks

Mating with two rooks is easy and fun. One rook delivers the checkmate while the other covers possible retreats. Note that in this mate, unlike most of the others in this section, the participation of the white King is not required. The following diagrams illustrate the main mating patterns.




Both of these mates are quite similar. In both, a Rook checks the King and controls the whole rank, while the second Rook prevents any possible King retreats by controling all of the squares on the neighboring rank.

In practice, you can deliver this mate by "walking" the King all the way to the back rank. If the enemy King approaches the rooks, you can always shift them to the other side of the baord where they will no longer be annoyed by the King.

Here's an example of the mate in practice.