In most of the examples so far, every move in the mating sequence has been a check. That usually is the best practice because working with checks limits your opponent’s options, but it isn't always necessary if the king’s position is sufficiently constrained. In this frame White has the characteristic attack against h8 with his bishop, which is prepared to support mate there by a heavy piece while also sealing off g7 and e7 as flight squares. So strong is White’s position that he can force a piece down to h8 even without checks: 1. Rxh5, g6xR (otherwise White mates on h8 next move); 2. Rxh5—and White again threatens mate next move. Since Black’s king isn’t in check he has a move he can use to defend himself, but in this case Black is powerless to prevent Rh8#; his king has nowhere to go. In a real position, of course, he might have interpositions or checks or other measures of his own he can use to dig himself out. Or he might not.

Notice, by the way, that the particular sequence shown here only works because White’s bishop is on f6 rather than farther back on the same diagonal (say, on b2); for if the bishop were farther back, Black would be able to move his f7 pawn forward to f6, blocking the long diagonal and giving his king a flight square. (Not to mention the possibility of the king escaping to e7.) As we shall see, the risk that an f-pawn will move forward in this way is a frequent nuisance when you are trying to build a mating attack on the long diagonal.