“Checkmate”这个词出自国际象棋，意思同汉语的“将！”，指的是在一方把关键的一个棋子放到致对方于死地的时候说一声“将军！”不过现在这个短语也用来表达“一次彻底的胜利”。

The rebels surrounded the president’s palace. He had no option but to agree to their demands: it was checkmate.
Unless we make some serious changes around this business, our competition will catch up and it will be checkmate.
指的注意的是，stalemate（僵局）和checkmate的意思正好相反，stalemate 表示一种双方僵持不下的局面。



I could only afford ￡150,000 for the house but the seller would go no lower than ￡155,000. We reached a stalemate and called the deal off.