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What's the name of the mating pattern starting with the move 21...Ng4!?

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1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. d5 e6 4. e4 exd5 5. exd5 d6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Bb5+ Nbd7 8. a4 O-O 9. O-O b6 10. Bc6 Rb8 11. Bf4 Bb7 12. Bxb7 Rxb7 13. Qd3 Nh5 14. Be3 Ne5 15. Nxe5 dxe5 16. Qf5 Nf6 17. Qxe5 Bd6 18. Qf5 Re8 19. Rad1 Re5 20. Qd3 Rh5 21. h3 Ng4 22. hxg4 Bh2+ 23. Kh1 Bd6+ 24. gxh5 Qh4+ 25.Kg1 Qh2# 0-1
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    Just a note: while mate is forced after hxg4??, the line you provided doesn't do it, as white can play 24. Kg1 and you're back to the same position.
    – Brian McCutchon
    Commented Jun 13, 2021 at 6:40
  • @BrianMcCutchon I think you're right. Black could play 22...Rh1+ 23.Kxh1 Qh4+ 24.Kg1 Qh2#. I think that would count as the same pattern, at least.
    – D M
    Commented Jun 13, 2021 at 13:16
  • There have been a few references to Damiano's Mate, however it is technically Damiano's Bishop Mate. All Damiano mats are the queen delivering Mate but in support of another piece, so you have Damianos King, Queen, Rook, Knight, Bishop and Pawn Mate patterns.
    – Dheebs
    Commented Jan 21 at 11:10

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It's rather rare that a mating pattern has a name. (Note that there is a book "1001 Deadly Checkmates" by GM Nunn, but I bet only a handful are named.) That said, the idea of sacrificing a rook and "replacing" it with the stronger queen was already given by Damiano around 1500 - 2nd diagram here. Specifically, "Damiano's Mate" refers only to the end position (usually with a P, but a B also "counts"). You can compare a few examples here and judge yourself if you find it "close enough".

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  • I can think of 30ish named checkmate patterns. Which generally covers most scenarios. You are right that its Damianos Mate, however specifically its Damianos Bishop Mate.
    – Dheebs
    Commented Jan 21 at 11:08
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A matting pattern refers to a specific configuration, not to a sequence of moves, thus the hole maneuver starting with 21...Nh4!? has no name as far as I know.

That being said, when the Queen delivers mate just next to the King, either in front or diagonally, it is known as 'Kiss of death'.

Kiss of Death

https://www.chess.com/lessons/how-to-checkmate/kiss-of-death-checkmate

If the piece protecting the Queen is a pawn, it might be referred either as a Lolli's mate or Damiano's mate, depending on the configuration.

In Damiano's Mate, usually pawn is not only protecting the Queen, but also preventing the King from escape to other square.

Damiano's mate

In Lolli's Mate, the position looks like this:

Lolli's Mate

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Not an exact match by any means, but the idea of using the knight as a "bait" to open the file and expose the h7 square is very similar to the fishing pole trap in the Berlin Defence.

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enter image description here

Damiano's bishop mate. "Damiano's bishop mate is a classic method of checkmating. The checkmate utilizes a queen and bishop, where the bishop is used to support the queen and the queen is used to engage the checkmate. The checkmate is named after Pedro Damiano." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate_pattern#Damiano's_bishop_mate

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