Smothered mate (Lucena's mate) is a checkmate delivered by a knight where the king's own pieces prevent it from escaping the opponent's threats. The first positions of such combinations were discovered in Persian mansubas of the 9th century. The mechanism of the 'smothered mate' combination was first analyzed in 1497 by the Spaniard Luis Ramírez de Lucena in 'Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez' (Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess).