A mating attack is an aggressive sequence of moves aimed directly at checkmating the opponent’s king, by coordinating pieces to surround it and eliminate all escape squares.
It differs from a simple mating threat in that it chains together several forcing or highly constraining moves — often checks, sacrifices, or restricting moves — that progressively narrow the enemy king’s available squares. The attacker seeks to coordinate pieces — rook, queen, knight, bishop — to build an inescapable mating net. A classic example: sacrificing a bishop on h7 to open the h-file, then bringing the queen and a rook to deliver checkmate on the eighth rank.
In practice, before launching a mating attack, verify that your opponent has no faster counter-attack available. Count the moves: if your checkmate takes five tempi and the opponent’s reply takes only three, you will lose. Always calculate the possible defenses before sacrificing material.