How to checkmate: fool's mate, scholar's mate and mate with a rook

A king is checkmated when it is in check and no move can get it out: it cannot step away, the attacking piece cannot be captured and nothing can be put in between. Whoever gives checkmate wins the game. How check and checkmate work is explained in our chess rules. This page shows how to do it. Moves are written in chess notation: Qh4 means queen to h4, an x is a capture and # is mate. Our guide to chess notation explains it.

Checkmate in 2 moves: fool's mate

Fool's mate is the shortest game that ends in checkmate. Black mates White on Black's second move:

1. White plays f3, Black plays e5.
2. White plays g4, Black plays Qh4. Checkmate.

White's two pawn moves open the diagonal from h4 to e1, and the black queen gives check along it. The white king has nowhere to go: its own pieces surround it and the queen covers f2. No white piece can capture the queen or block the check.

There are 8 ways to reach this mate. White can play f3 or f4 and make the two pawn moves in either order, and Black can play e5 or e6. In real games fool's mate almost never happens, because White has to make two bad moves first.

How do you avoid fool's mate?

Do not push both your f-pawn and your g-pawn at the start of the game. At the beginning the f2 square, f7 for Black, is protected only by the king. That makes it the weakest point in your position, and both fool's mate and scholar's mate go through that square.

Can White checkmate in 3 moves?

Yes, but only if Black helps. Because White moves first, White needs one move more for the same pattern: 1. e4 g5 2. d4 f6 3. Qh5 checkmate. This time the diagonal from h5 to e8 is open and the white queen mates there. Another example is 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Ke7 3. Qxe5 checkmate, where the black king walks forward itself. In total there are 347 different games that end in checkmate on White's third move.

Checkmate in 4 moves: scholar's mate

Scholar's mate is a checkmate with the queen on f7, protected by the bishop on c4. It can happen as early as White's fourth move:

1. White plays e4, Black plays e5.
2. White plays Bc4, Black plays Nc6.
3. White plays Qh5, Black plays Nf6.
4. White plays Qxf7. Checkmate.

The queen captures the pawn on f7 with check. The black king cannot take her back, because the bishop on c4 protects f7. It cannot go to e7 either, as the queen covers that square, and d7, d8 and f8 are taken by its own pieces. The knight on f6 cannot reach the queen. Black is checkmated.

White can also swap the second and third moves, playing Qh5 first and then Bc4, or bring the queen to f7 by way of f3. The idea stays the same: queen and bishop aim at f7 together. In Dutch it is called herdersmat, shepherd's mate.

Is scholar's mate a good opening?

Not against someone who knows it. Qh5 brings the queen out early, and Black can chase her with normal moves while developing his own pieces. White then loses time with the queen. That is why scholar's mate mostly turns up in games between beginners.

How do you stop scholar's mate?

Protect f7 in time or chase the queen away. This is how to defend after 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5:

1. Protect e5 first. After 2. Qh5 White threatens to take the pawn on e5 with check. So bring your knight to c6: 2. ... Nc6.
2. Chase the queen. After 3. Bc4 scholar's mate is threatened. Now 3. ... g6 is good: the pawn attacks the queen and shuts the road to f7.
3. Put a knight in the way. If the queen goes to f3 and attacks f7 again, bring your other knight to f6: 4. Qf3 Nf6. The knight now stands between the queen and f7.

Do not play g6 too early. After 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 g6, White plays 3. Qxe5, capturing the pawn with check and attacking your rook on h8 at the same time. You will lose that rook.

If White starts with 2. Bc4, then 2. ... Nf6 rules out scholar's mate straight away. If the queen goes to h5, the knight takes her, and the road via f3 to f7 is already blocked.

Back rank mate

You will see this mate later in the game too. A rook or queen gives check along the back rank, and the king cannot escape because its own pawns are in front of it. After castling the king often stands exactly like that, behind three pawns. In the diagram the black king on g8 is in check from the rook on e8. The squares f8 and h8 are on the same rank as the rook, and its own pawns stand on f7, g7 and h7.

How do you avoid a back rank mate?

Give your king some air in time: push one of the pawns in front of it one square, for example the h-pawn. Your king then has a square to escape to if a check comes along the back rank. Or keep a rook on that rank, so it can stop such a check.

How to checkmate with a king and rook

If your opponent has only his king left and you have a rook and your king, you can always force checkmate. The rook cannot do it alone: your king has to help. This is how it works:

1. Draw a line. Put your rook on a rank between the two kings. The other king cannot cross that rank.
2. Bring your king up. Walk your king towards the other king, on your side of the line.
3. Move the line forward. When the kings stand directly opposite each other with one square between them, move the rook one rank forward. That is check, and the other king has to go back a rank. Repeat until it stands on the edge.
4. Mate on the edge. When the king is on the edge and your king stands directly opposite it, give check with the rook along the edge. That is checkmate.

If the other king attacks your rook along the way, move the rook along the same rank to the far side of the board. That keeps the line in place.

How to checkmate with a king and queen

With a queen it goes faster, because she moves both straight and diagonally. Drive the king to the edge with your queen, bring your own king up and put the queen right in front of the other king, protected by your king. In the diagram above the queen stands on e7 and the white king on e6: the black king cannot take the queen and every square around it is covered.

Watch out for stalemate

Because the queen covers so many squares, it is easy to box the other king in completely without giving check. If it is then his move and he cannot move, it is stalemate and the game is a draw. In the diagram below the white king stands on c4, the white queen on c7 and the black king on a6. It is Black's move, he is not in check and he has no legal move: stalemate. So always leave the other king a square until you can really give mate.

Keep the 50-move rule in mind as well. If nobody has captured anything or moved a pawn for 50 moves, your opponent may claim a draw. More about that under when a chess game is a draw.

Which pieces can checkmate a lone king?

If your opponent has only his king left, it depends on your pieces whether you can checkmate him:

Practise on a real board

The best way to remember these mates is to play them through: set up the pieces as in the diagrams and make the moves. Our luxury chess board with 32 pieces is printed in The Hague.