What is the difference in mate and checkmate?

Answer 1

A checkmate in Chess is when the king is checked and has no where to go. A stalemate is when the king is not in check and has nowhere to go and his other pieces(if any) also have no where to go. A stalemate is considered a draw. A checkmate occurs when a player's King is in danger of being captured by the other player's very next move and either the other player cannot move the king to a safe square, or cannot move one of his other pieces to block the capture or move one of his other pieces to capture the threatening piece. Checkmate ends the game with a win for the player checkmating the other player. Stalemate occurs when one player's king is not in check but the only legal move the king can make puts the king in check. Stalemate also ends the game but it counts as a draw.

Answer 2

Nothing - mate is just short for checkmate.