directmate

D2I1R1E1C3T1M3A1T1E1

noun

A kind of chess problem in which White, moving first, must checkmate Black within a specified number of moves against any defence.

Scrabble 15
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Meanings

noundirectmate (plural directmates)

plural directmates

  1. board gamesA kind of chess problem in which White, moving first, must checkmate Black within a specified number of moves against any defence.

    Problem 1’s stipulation of “Mate in 2” indicates that it’s a directmate and White must mate by the second move. […] Though not all directmates are successful in incorporating them, you should keep in mind the possibility of such counter-intuitive first moves.

    2024 December 21, Rocky64, “An introduction to composed chess problems”, in Chess.com, archived from the original on 13 Aug 2025

Origin

From direct + mate.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

directmate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/directmate

MLA

“directmate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/directmate. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “directmate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/directmate.

Source: directmate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.