Checkmate is a one act ballet created by the choreographer Ninette de Valois and composer Arthur Bliss.
The main conflict of the story concerns the Red Knight's love for the Black Queen.
An initial "game" between the two sides finishes as the Black Queen has the Red King in a "check" position.
The funeral cortège for the Red Knight is described as "Death leading, Love at the end of the procession".
The Red King has one last moment of recalling his youth before the Black Queen stabs him in the back with a spear, in the final "checkmate".