Xenodream 2217.01 + some postwork in PSP (frame, text). Checkmate (frequently shortened to mate) is a situation in chess (and in other boardgames of the chaturanga family) in which one player's king is threatened with capture (in check) and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured. Delivering checkmate is the ultimate goal in chess: a player who is checkmated loses the game (the king is never actually captured � the game ends as soon as the king is checkmated because checkmate leaves the defensive player with no legal moves). In practice, most players resign an inevitably lost game before being checkmated. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Thanks for the click and for all the kind comments on my previous posts.