Explanation

A queen giving check to the adjacent king is often checkmate. The queen has to be protected, otherwise the king could capture the queen. On the edge of the board, the queen will also cover all, or all but one of the escape squares. Such a mate is sometimes also called the "Kiss of death", or "Kiss mate", as the queen supposedly steps next to the king for a kiss. If the queen is protected by a knight, the mate is called Damiano's knight mate.

Examples

White can deliver Damiano's knight mate with Qxh7#.
The queen is protected by the knight on g5.

White can deliver Damiano's knight mate with Qxf7#.
The queen is protected by the knight on e5.

Pattern matching

Queen and knight are working very well together. If you can bring both of them into the attack, Damiano's knight mate can quickly become a threat.

Damiano's rook mate, and Damiano's bishop mate are similar patterns, with a rook or bishop protecting the queen instead of a knight.