The swallow's tail, also called the Gueridon mate, is a pattern in which the queen mates the king while the king's own pieces take away his retreat squares. The name comes from the shape: the two squares either side of the queen, where the king cannot go, look like a swallow's forked tail.
On the board the black king on e8 is wedged between his own rooks on d8 and f8. The white queen on e7 gives check, supported by the king on e6. There is nowhere to go: d7 and f7 are raked by the queen, d8 and f8 are occupied by his own rooks, and the king cannot take the queen - she is defended.
The swallow's tail is a close relative of the epaulette mate, but here the king is wedged along the diagonal rather than along the rank. The pattern shows vividly how your own pieces become a trap: it matters to give the king an escape square and not to box him in with your own rooks.
This page is a handy place to go over the set-up on the board and work through it square by square. An overview of all the named mates is collected in a separate article.
Drag a piece onto the board, or click a piece and then click the squares. The cross beside the pieces sweeps every piece of that colour off the board, and a single piece can be dragged off the edge.
The pieces will be arranged into the chosen pattern.
It is the mating side to move. Find mate in one.
Openings, endgame positions and breakthrough studies - the set-up appears on the board.
Build your own position in the board editor, read up on the rules of chess or run a tournament on your own positions in the free app.
Everything people usually keep in a spreadsheet is already in the app: pairings, points, tie-breaks, round order. Free, with no subscriptions and no cap on the number of players.
Sign up to the Vibe Chess bot on Telegram - it carries the schedule of meetups and chess events across the cities we run in.
