![]() ![]() It is characterized by White sacrificing their queen. This common trap tends to come about within the first few opening moves. But for someone just starting in their exploration of chess, the Scholar’s Mate is an excellent four-move checkmate to have at hand. It’s relatively simple to defend against if you know what you’re doing. ![]() For this reason, the Scholar’s Mate is one of the fastest ways to bring about a checkmate.Ī skilled player will likely see this opening attack coming. Because the king only defends it, the pawn is a good target for an opening move. This well-known pattern of victory is centred around attacking the weak f7 pawn. The Smothered Mate can occur at any point in the match if the opponent’s king becomes surrounded. These particular steps need not occur at the beginning of the game. If White’s next move is to free the queenside knight to c3, Black can quickly trap the king by moving its active knight to d4. Black then releases its queenside knight, sliding to c6. White’s next move should be the kingside knight to e2. It also requires some valuable sacrifice on Black’s part to compel White to leave their king smothered.Ī simple illustration of the trick begins with White’s pawn moving from e2 to e4. This trick is less common than others, as more experienced players will rarely leave their king to be smothered by its surrounding pieces. This four-move checkmate trick mimics the Fool’s Mate in that it capitalizes on the inability of White’s king to escape, thereby “smothering” it and offering a quick victory. While the Fool’s Mate is more likely to happen among beginners to the game, it’s an important strategy to keep tucked away as it delivers a quick victory. Left with no means of defence, the king is vulnerable to checkmate when Black swings their queen to h4. The reason these two moves are so detrimental to White’s game is that they immediately weaken the position of the king. If their second move is a knight’s pawn to g4, then the Fool’s Mate is almost guaranteed. First, they must open the game with their kingside pawn moving to f3. The name comes from the opening mistake that White must make for this simple trick to work.Īs the first player to move, White must make two crucial errors. p. 509.Sometimes called the two-move checkmate, the Fool’s Mate is the oldest and most popular strategy for a quick chess game. ^ Averbakh, Yuri Lvovich Beilin, Mikhail Abramovich (1972).^ Fischer, Bobby Margulies, Stuart Mosenfelder, Donn (1972).Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games. ^ a b Hooper, David Whyld, Kenneth (1992).There are other possible three-move mates for White, such as 1. Further, a similar mate can occur in From's Gambit: 1. Qh5# has been attributed to Masefield and Trinka, although the first player's name has also been reported as Mayfield or Mansfield and the second player's name as Trinks or Trent. Qh5 #.Ī possibly apocryphal variant of the fool's mate has been reported by several sources. This game took three moves!!" One possible sequence leading to the position is 1. The solution in Fischer's book bore the comment "Black foolishly weakened his King's defenses. A board position illustrating White's version of the fool's mate-with White to mate-was given as a problem in Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, and also as an early example in a compendium of problems by László Polgár. In both cases, the principle is the same: a player advances their f- and g-pawns such that the opponent's queen can mate along the unblocked diagonal. When the roles are reversed, however, White requires an extra third turn or half-move, known in computer chess as a ply. White can achieve a checkmate similar to the fool's mate. A player may also suffer an early checkmate if the f- and g-pawns are advanced prematurely and the kingside is not properly defended, as shown in historical miniature games recorded in chess literature.Ī problem with White to mate instead, given by Fischer and Polgár. The mate is an illustration of the kingside weakness shared by both players along the f- and g- files during the opening phase of the game. ![]() Even among rank beginners, this checkmate rarely occurs in practice. Black can be mated in a complementary way, although this requires an additional move, with White's queen delivering checkmate on the third move. The fool's mate received its name because it can occur only if White commits an extraordinary blunder. The fool's mate can be achieved in two moves only by Black, giving checkmate on the second move with the queen. It arises from the following moves, or similar: In chess, the fool's mate is the checkmate delivered after the fewest possible moves from the game's starting position. 1620), via Francis Beale (1656)īarnes Opening, Bird Opening, or Grob's Attack ![]()
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