How to Beat Your Dad at Chess
http://www.amazon.com/How-Beat-Your-Chess-Gambit/dp/1901983056 

A very poorly named book. It's actually a book of 50 checkmates and it's suitable for any age.

The Art of Attack in Chess by Vladimir Vukovic.

All of the checkmating patterns? But really, ALL of them?

Well, there are several dozen which are really famous, but really there's no end to checkmating patterns, because it's every pattern where the king is attacked and all of the squares around it are covered (and of course, when the attacking piece cannot be taken nor the attack interposed...)

You get good at this when you begin to observe SQUARES and notice whether or not they are "under influence" by this piece or another, as a matter of habit. 

But this is something you will like. Try it! 

Thanks for the link.

I think what he means for "pattern" is a sequence of moves that it's instantly recognized and can be played in autopilot, for instance the smother mate with Q and N.

Most checkmate problems do require concrete calculation, so the patterns to know are not actually that many.

I have the book Chess Tactics from Scratch and I think it's really good. It's not just checkmates though.

Recommended for studying:

How to Beat your Dad at Chess by Murray Chandler

1000 Checkmate Combinations by Victor Henkin

5334 Problems Combinations and Games by Laszlo Polgar

1000 Deadly Checkmates by John Nunn

Simple Checkmates by A.J Gilliam

Art of Checkmate by Renaud and Khan 

Checkmate! The Patterns of the Winning Mating Attacks and How to Achieve Them by George Koltanowski

The last book I mentioned by George Koltanowski is the best I've ever seen on the subject if you ever see a 1978 version of his book around for $10 used I highly recommened it.

I haven't seen Koltanowski's book, but am well familiar with the others listed by alec1985.

I would add:

Vukovic, The Art of Attack (one chapter--very good)

Tisdall, Improve Your Chess Now (appendix)

More than a dozen years ago, I read Renaud and Kahn, which I still think is the best book on the subject, as well as Tisdall, Vukovic, Chandler, and Polgar. I looked at Gilliam and a few other books with lots of problems, such as Reinfeld's classic 1001 Checkmates.

Renaud and Kahn was not yet in an algebraic edition and Chandler was sorely disappointing on several levels, although I still recommend it to children because it has a lot of diagrams. For the record, IT DOES NOT list 50 checkmate patterns, despite the subtitle. Chandler could not find that many so he fills in the gaps with variations on certain patterns and with some tactical motifs.

I wanted something for my students that was organized in a manner that facilated memory, and that combined the instructive quality of Renaud and Kahn, the simplicity of Vukovic and Tisdall, and offered problems for practice. I started by creating a website (now defunct) and that grew into my pamphlet, "A Checklist of Checkmates". It contains six chapters that organize patterns into themes. There are six sets of twenty problems and one set of 19 (I could not find the twentieth for the knights theme).

A sample page:

<Plutonia> - "the patterns to know are not that many"

so well, my dear <Plutonia>, you would be surprised. 

I play blitz quite often, you will not believe how many different forms a checkmate can take, in the middle of the game, when an opponent does not expect it, but when the attacker saw it coming, just looking at squares.

Try playing some blitz with a strong attacking player. Mates don't always come in the patterns they hand you in beginner's books. 

- - - 

On another note, I was gifted the 5334 Polgar book. I find it pretty useless. Many of the problems are intended for you to find move sequences that lead to a "clear advantage" or to a "slight advantage" - and then there's no explanation in book why it is an advantage, in what the advantage consists of, just no discussion at all - and sometimes it shows a variation or a couple with another evaluation, but that's it. 

I find it robotic really. 

There's no argument that Laszlo Polgar created three real chess monsters - but I wasn't personally fascinated with his book. 

- - - - - - - 

<Ziryab> your pamphlet definitely looks like a find. From the sample page, it looks simple, entertaining, and really creates an impression, in such a way as gives the student excellent chances to retain the material and use it in their own games. 

Would solving mate in one problems establish these patterns in your thought process ?

Peshka has a course with 77000 mate in ones.

Thanks. I think that writing it helped my game. After rereading it this morning, I found myself in this position as White  in a blitz game and understood that I needed a rook lift.

White to move

The fact that it's white to move certainly helps. If it was black's turn, he could probably defend, either by ...Bf8 and ...Qa3, or by ...Rb8 and ...b5 with ...Rb6 (also black can lift rooks).

But even here, black still has ideas of ...a5 and ...Ka7. And ...Bf8 seems to foil the best attempts for a decisive rook lift... 

If black can weather the attack, he has a nice central post for the knight on e4, and the better bishop. 

So how did you finally do it?

Was it Qa6, with Rfb1 and Rb4?

I played Rab1, Qa6 (forcing Rb8), and Rb3. My opponent missed the pattern and played Nd6 instead of Bc8.

As you say, the knight was well posted on e4 and he put it there. It should have remained there.

I was planning Ne5-c7 and Rfb1 with ideas of possibly sacrificing on b6.

Nd6 allowed Qxa7+ and Ra3#

A nice pattern definitely - and always a pleasure to play. You get the rush of blasting your queen upon their position - and none of the risk :-)

And certainly, ...Bf8 was critical to the defense. Any knight manoeuvres can wait until the storm passes...

Actually WITHOUT the knight on d6, you would need to play Rb4 as your rook lift, as the queen would still cover a3 after you sacrifice yours... His knight is helping YOUR cause... but of course, he suspected nothing - as most people who fall prey to this pretty tactic. 

1. Rab1 Bf8 (1...a5 2. Rb5! is quite deadly - and is yet another, new and fresh rook-lift option) 2. Qa6 Rb8 defends, as 3. Rb4 b5! is another defensive weapon in black's hands - the way Nimzowitsch puts it , in "My System", when analyzing a similar variation, is - "and black will need a lot of subduing). 

If we follow Nimzowitsch's own recommendation from that variation in the book, we could try 1. Qb5! - as this rules out the ...b5 advance later. Another benefit is that 1...a5 is now answered with 2. Qa6+ and 3. Qb7#

So let's see - 1. Qb5 Bf8 2. Rab1 Qf7 (to let the bishop cover both of the squares that are critical to your intended rook lift - b4 and a3) and in this position black, again, seems well defended - unless I'm missing something. 

Of course, it's the defender who needs to know the mating patterns - even more than the attacker... it does take a bit of ingenuity to defend against your idea in blitz time controls - and I'm sure that the ideas in your pamphlet will keep bringing you many pretty wins. 

EDIT: I believe that there is a way to win this actually... look - 1. Rab1 Bf8 (blocking the Rh8 from the defense) 2. Qa6 Rb8 3. Rb4 b5 but what I missed earlier was 4. Rxb5 Rxb5 5. Qxb5 and suddenly there's no defending b7!

1001 Deadly Checkmates by John Nunn (2011)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708085825/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review806.pdf

1000 Checkmate Combinations by Victor Henkin (2011)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708101520/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review803.pdf

How to Beat Your Dad at Chess by Murray Chandler (1998)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093813/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/beatdad.pdf

Art of Attack in Chess by Vladimir Vukovic (1965)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708234424/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/aac.pdf

The Art of Checkmate by Georges Renaud and Victor Kahn (1947)

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Art-of-Checkmate-The-77p3892.htm

Intermediate level

1001 Deadly Checkmates by Nunn.

http://www.gambitbooks.com/books/1001_Deadly_Checkmates.html

Advance Level

365 Ways To Checkmate by Gallagher

http://www.gambitbooks.com/books/365_Ways_to_Checkmate.html

For free, wikipedia has an article on all the checkmating patterns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate_pattern