Anastasia's Mate

Recently, I discovered Anastasia's Mate ( as well as others, such as the similar Arabian mate). Of course, I mean I discovered how the pattern was named.

Anastasia's Mate ( apparently named after a novel by Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse) involves Rook and Knight combining, often with a Queen involved.


The example I learned from starts below...

Black to play

...and after 1...Ne2+ 2. Kh1 Qxh2+ 3.Kxh2, we have....

Rxh4#

a Rook check, and the knight blocks the escape squares. Very neat.


I must have remembered it well, as in the below problem, after dismissing the first move that came to mind, the knight + Rook pattern emerged. 

Checking the options, I was convinced, played for it and was correct. A neat solution :)

White to play

Solution if required 

Its not that rare, as I saw a similar pattern later.

White to play

The learning point is to know your mating combinations, as they do more than give mate : the mate threat can be devastatng !