How To Checkmate Archives - Chessentials

How to mate with bishop and knight

Mistreaver — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 22:29:50 +0000

INTRODUCTION

Finally we have arrived to the most difficult “elementary” checkmate – The bishop and knight checkmate.

First of all I would like to enter a short theoretical discussion. There is much to be said about the point of learning this checkmate in great detail.

Because the main argument against bothering yourself with this relatively complicated mechanicsm is the probability of its occurence over the board.

I can talk from my experience. During the course of the last 6 years I have played around 150 tournament games.

Not even once was I even close to reaching the afore mentioned endgame. To be honest, that is pretty lucky for me, since I am not at all certain that I have fully mastered the checkmate.

And the fact that I am writing a post about the very same checkmate merely reminds me of a joke about the university professor, who complains to his colleague about his students:

“Imagine, I explain them the theorem for the first time, and nothing.

I explain the theorem for the second time, and still nothing.

I explain the theorem for the third time. Even I finally understand it, but they once again nothing..”

Therefore, a very good question is whether one should focus on other areas of chess instead of the specific checkmate that is very unlikely to appear over the board.

Too be honest, I don’t have a very convincing answer against that. It would make me quite a hypocrite to advocate learning this checkmate as a must, when I have gone for so many years without bothering to do it.

And also, there were quite stronger players who embarassed themselves in this area of the chess game. Check this video of World Chess Champion Anna Ushenina, or this game by a strong grandmaster Vladimir Epishin, for instance.

I think that not learning the bishop and knight checkmate isn’t something I should be very proud of. I think that learning the bishop and knight checkmate should be considered the basic chess culture.

It was quite lucky that I have never had the opportunity to exercise it over the board, because it would be quite shameful to lose the half point because of your own chess incompetence.

Additionaly, there is an argument that learning the bishop and knight checkmate deepens the understanding of the coordination of these two minor pieces. And that can be very important factor in the middlegame.

To sum up, there are both PRO ET CONTRA arguments considering the bishop and knight checkmate. But my opinion is that it can’t do much harm to study it, and it also shouldn’t consume much time.

In the remainder of the post we will initially consider the basic mating picture. Then we will introduce the typical position with the so called W MANEOVRE, which is crucial in performing the checkmate. Finally, an example of the whole checkmate consisting of forcing the black king in the corner will be presented.

BASIC MATING PICTURE

The most important thing to remember about the bishop and knight checkmate is that it typically occurs with the black king in the corner whose colour is THE SAME TO THE COLOUR of the white bishop. (Please note that the Black will once again be the weaker side of this checkmate).

Some typical mating pictures are shown on the diagrams below:

   [FEN "1k6/1B6/1KN5/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

   [FEN "k7/1B6/1KN5/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

It is important to note that these aren’t the only possible mating pictures. For instance, there is also the possibility of mating the king on the edge of the board, as depicted on the diagram below:

   [FEN "3k4/3B4/3KN3/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

However, considering that Black plays the optimal defensive moves, mating the king in the right corner is the only way of doing so. A big mistake by black is neccessary in order to allow the other form of the bishop and knight checkmate.

W MANEOVRE

Having in mind the things said above, Black’s perfect defence involves running in the CORNER OF THE OPPOSITE COLOUR OF THE WHITE BISHOP.

White’s aim is to force the king into the adjacent corner without allowing the king to escape. The key of doing that is the so called W maneovre.

To get the better idea behind the maneovre (and the name behind it), please consider the following diagram:

   [White "Bishop and knight checkmate"]   [Black "W maneouvre"]   [Result "1-0"]   [FEN "7k/8/5K2/4N3/8/3B4/8/8 w - - 0 1"]   {White first gives a check:}   1 Nf7+ Kg8   {White wants to force the Black king out of the corner. In order to do that he needs to put the bishop on h7. For the he needs to play one waiting move.}   2 Bb1 Kf8 3 Bh7   {Black has no choice}   3... Ke8 4 Ne5   {The knight controls the d7 escape square. The knight route against the toughest defence is f7-e5-d7-c5-b7, which has the shape of the letter " W" .   Black has two possible tries from the diagram position. We will examine them in turn:}   4... Kd8 {Black's better try is trying to run towards the  WRONG CORNER  and escape. White has to know the technique very well in order to keep him confined.}   (4... Kf8   {The weaker defence. Black stays in the " RIGHT CORNER" , but with the given piece configuration it loses even more quickly.}   5 Nd7+ Ke8   6 Ke6 Kd8 7 Kd6   7... Ke8 8 Bg6+ Kd8 9 Bf7   {Forcing the king further down the road.}   9...Kc8 10 Nc5!   {White continues with the knight maneovre.}   10 ... Kd8 (10... Kb8 11 Be6 Ka7 12 Kc7 {loses more quickly})   11 Nb7+ Kc8 12 Kc6   12... Kb8 13 Kb6   {The Black king is forced in the right corner. Very soon a checkmate will be given.}   13... Kc8 14 Be6+ Kb8 15 Bd7   {The black king can move only between the a8 and b8. Thus the mate in a couple of moves follows:}   15... Ka8 16 Nc5 Kb8 17 Na6+   {Giving the check to the king on b8 and announcing the mate in two.}   17... Ka8 18 Bc6 {mate})   {It seems that White is unable to " catch"  the Black's king. Therefore, remember the following maneovre:}   5 Ke6! Kc7   {Going back with 5... Ke8 would bring us to the familiar positions after 6 Nd7.}   6 Nd7!   {Controlling the b6 square.}   6... Kb7 {eyeing the a6 square} (6... Kc6 {is met by the same move})   7 Bd3!   {You can see from the diagram how the  white minor pieces cooperate together with the king, restricting the black king's movement.   The job is much easier from this point onwards, although it is nearly not complete:}   7.. Kc6 8 Be2 Kc7   {The most consistent and easily grasped technique is continuing the  W MANEOVRE , by bringing the knight via c5 to b7.}   9 Bf3 Kd8 10 Kd6 Ke8 11 Bh5+   {And now after}   11... Kd8 12 Bf7 {we have reached the position that was reached in the  variation A  after White's 9th move. Thus we can see that mating  variation B  is three moves longer.   In the end, we will consider an example of whole checkmate, which includes forcing the Black king in the corner. We will consider the best defence by Black, where he immediately heads in the  OPPOSITE COLOURED  corner. We will see how White accomplishes the position from which he can perform the afore mentioned  W MANEOVRE.}

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

THE WHOLE CHECKMATE

{Please consider the following starting position}

   [White "Bishop and knight checkmate"]   [Black "Method 1"]   [Result "1-0"]   [FEN "8/8/8/8/8/4k3/8/2N1KB2 w - - 0 1"]   {We will examine only the basic idea. Obviously there are many diversion for Black on every move, and trying to cover them all would be pretty pointless.}   1 Bg2 Kd4 2 Kd2   {In principle, White's king should always try to " follow " the movement of the Black's counterpart, in order to restrict his movement.}   2.... Ke5 3 Ke3 Kf5   4 Nd3!   {Now is the right moment to bring the knight, in order to control the e5-square.}   4... Kg5   {Black naturally tries to escape via g5}   5 Be4!   {White has completed a "wall", pushing the Black king. Notice how White's knight controls the dark squares from a light square.   From here Black has many continuations. We will examine only two:}       5... Kf6   (5... Kh4 6 Kf4 Kh5 7 Ne5   {White aims for the position of the W maneovre.}   7... Kh6 8 Kf5   8... Kg7 (8... Kh5 9 Ng4 {and we have reached the familiar position})   9 Bd5   9... Kh7 (9... Kh6 10 Be6 Kh5 11 Ng4 {is familiar position})   10 Kf6   {Now 10... Kh8 11 Nf7+ brings us to the position examined before. And 10... Kh6 11 Ng6 forced the king toward h1 corner (instead of a8). Which is basically the same mechanism.})   6 Kd4   6.. Ke6 7 Kc5 Ke7 8 Kd5   {The Black king can now choose where to go. He goes in the corner where he can't be mated that quickly.}   8... Kf6 9 Kd6 Kf7   10 Ke5 Kg7   (10... Ke7 {would allow White to continue with Bd5+ and Nc5, bringing the pieces forward and forcing the king once again to choose between different corners.})   11 Ke6   {The activity of the king}   11... Kg8 12 Ne5!   {Centralizing the knight}   12... Kg7 13 Bd3 Kg8 14 Kf6   {Now almost all the prerequsites for the W maneovre position are set.}   14... Kh8 15 Nf7+   {And this is the familiar position. From here White can proceed s described above.}

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

CONCLUSION

Phew… This was very lenghty and hard. Still, I hope this post has given you idea behind performing this complex checkmate, or at least clarified that it is not THAT DIFFICULT.

The only thing I can advise from this point onwards is … PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

On this link, you can practice the checkmate against the chess computer.

Any comments, suggestions and improvements are welcomed very much.

Good luck

The post How to mate with bishop and knight appeared first on Chessentials.

How to mate with two bishops

Mistreaver — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 22:58:44 +0000

INTRODUCTION

After learning elementary queen and rook checkmates it is time to take another “small step” for a chessplayer and learn another elementary mate.

If you recall the basic chess rules, the next piece on the relative strength scale is the bishop. However, from the bishop onwards, a single piece can’t deliver the elementary checkmate to the bare opponent’s king.

Therefore, as a next elementary mate we will study the typical mate of the two bishops, a mate that every chess player should be familiar with.

And I only wish to add that it is very useful that “double figures” mates start with the bishops, instead of the rooks.

Because it would be much harder for everyone to avoid the rookie mistake and call the rook “THE TOWER” instead.

Just in case you were wondering what the hell I was blabbling about above

MATING PICTURE

First of all, we shall follow the familiar track and get acquainted with the mating picture. Similarly to the other elementary mates, the mate itself takes place either at the edge, or at the corner of the board. Some of the possible mating pictures are demonstrated on the diagram below (Hint: Note that once again White will be the mating side throughout the whole post)

   [FEN "k7/2K5/1BB5/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 "]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

   [FEN "3k4/5K2/1B2B3/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 "]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

Here it is important to note that White’s light squared bishop controls all the light squares around the Black king, while the dark squared bishop controls all the dark squares. I guess you were very surprised by this fact.

But I am emphasizing this nevertheless, since the elementary mating mechanicsm will consist of two bishops supplementing each other.

Naturally, a careless player can rather easily spoil a game, which in bishop checkmate context means stalemate. Since both bishops operate on only one diagonal, it is much harder to miss that the opponent’s king will be stalemated. But still, it is worth reminding ourselves of some possible stalemate pictures, in order not to lule our vigilance too much.

   [FEN "k7/3B4/K2B4/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 "]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

   [FEN "3k4/5K2/4B3/4B3/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 "]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

After covering the basic DO’S and DONT’S in terms of mating pictures, we can finally start learning the mating mechanicsm. In contrast to the queen and rook checkmates, we will examine only one basic mechanicsm, since there is no “dumber” or “smarter” way of executing the mate.

MATING MECHANISM

Let us start “deus ex machina”..uhm..I mean “in medias res”.. and consider the initial not-very-likely-to-meet-over-the-board position.

   [White "Two bishops checkmate"]   [Black "Method 1"]   [Result "1-0"]   [FEN "8/8/8/3k4/8/8/8/BBK5 w - - 0 1"]   {There are many paths to the same goal from the given position, but I like moving the bishops at the start. The reasons for that will be apparent very soon.}   1 Bd3 Kc5 2  Bc3   {What has White accomplished? Well you can see that his bishops are "cutting the board" and restricting the Black king.   This is the "supplementary" action we have mentioned earlier. And also one of the reasons why the bishop pair is often so valued in the other phases of the game as well.   You can see that with each bishop covering the squares of his own colour, the Black king's moving space is restricted.}   2 ... Kd5 3 Kd2   {The next step is to bring the king near the bishops. Because without the king it is not possible to push the black king further down the board, and bring him to the final destination - the edge or the corner of the board.}   3... Kc5 4 Ke3   4... Kd5   {Black will keep the king in the corner for the purposes of this post. If Black goes backwards toward the edge, than simply bring the bishops or the king up the board earlier.}   5 Bd4!   {The point of bringing the king up. The bishop on d4 is now supported and the Black's king is forced to take a step back.}   5... Kd6 6 Bc4   {It is also possible to move the king up first, but I will stick to the "Jin-Jang" action of the bishops whenever the opportunity arises. From the diagram above the restriction of the Black king is very apparent, since he only has 12 squares left.}   6 ... Kc6 7 Ke4   {The "huddling up" continues.}   7... Kd7 8 Bd5   {I have deliberately moved the Black king backwards on move 7. White shouldn't be taken aback with that, but simply continue with the method. His light squared bishops takes another square under control .}   8 ... Kd6 9 Be3   {In the given instance 9 Bc5 was not possible since Black would simply capture the bishop. Therefore, White waits for one move in the given position. Black's king has to retreat after which Bc5 will be possible.}   9... Kd7 10 Bc5   {Voila. Job complete. The Black king has only 6 squares remaining.}   10 ... Kc7 11 Ke5   {A familiar picture.}   11.... Kd7 12 Bd6   {4 squares. White only has to be careful not to turn that number into zero squares.}   12... Kd8 13 Bc6   {We are now getting very close to the goal. Black king is forced to the edge of the board and has only two squares remaining.   It has to be mentioned that the further course of action will include forcing the king into the edge. Since mate on the edge can occur only if Black allows that, and not by force.}   13... Kc8 14 Ke6 Kd8   {The method of forcing the king into the corner begins by taking some squares from him.}   15 Bb7   {Taking the c8 square and forcing the King to e8.}   15... Ke8 16 Bc7   {Also taking the d8 under control and forcing the king to f8.}   16... Kf8 17 Kf6!   {Remember this alingment of the kings. We haven't mentioned it yet, but this position of the kings is called the opposition.   But it is easier to remember that you can use your king to stop the enemy king escaping via the g7 square.}   17... Ke8 18 Bc6   {Forcing the king back toward the corner.}   18... Kf8 19 Bd6   {And further he goes.}   19 ... Kg8 20 Bd5 Kh7   {Now the king is trying to escape via h6, so just take that square under control.}   21 Bf4   21... Kh8   {Now it is just neccessary to be careful not to stalemate the king with the Kg6.   Therefore, the right move is:}   22 Kf7   {Letting the king have the h7 square.}   22.... Kh7 23 Be4   {Forcing the king back in the corner.}   23 ... Kh8 24 Be5   {And finally the checkmate is on the board.}

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

Conclusion

Hopefully, after reading this it will be easier to perform the bishops checkmate once you encounter it over the board.

Since this example was meant to be educational, it hasn’t followed the fastest way towards the goal. Once you get some experience, you can always consult the Nalimov Tablebase tool, a specified computer engine that gives the final evaluation of the endgame position that containes up to 6 pieces on the board.

From the practical point of view, it is worth remembering the following:

The example started from the hardest possible starting position, and still the sub-optimal mate was performed in only 24 moves, which is way below the maximum allowed 50 moves which player has according to the rules to perform the mate.

That concludes this post. If you ever get confused during the mating proces, just remember that bishops have to be in synergy.

The post How to mate with two bishops appeared first on Chessentials.

How to mate with rook

Mistreaver — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 18:46:17 +0000

INTRODUCTION

In the prevous post we have learned the elementary queen checkmate. Therefore, it is time to move one step forward. Since the rook is the second strongest piece, (remember basic chess rules), learning the rook checkmate next is quite logical.

MATING PICTURE

First of all, in order to understand the mating mechanicsm, it is important to know the basic mating picture. Because knowing which position you are aiming for might make your moves more purposeful.

Despite the fact that “it’s all about the hunt, not about the kill”. Since in chess one is very fond of killing the enemy king as fast as possible.

Another version of “hunt – kill” phrase that has no relation to chess whatsoever

As shown by diagrams below, the rook checkmate mating picture is the same as a certain variation of the queen checkmate. The basic condition stays the same. The mating takes place either in the corner or on the edge of the board.

   [FEN "k1R5/8/1K6/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

   [FEN "3k1R2/8/3K4/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

It is important to note that it is also possible to stalemate the opponent, if one is not careful enough. Since there is only one possible stalemate picture with the king on the edge of the board, it is not so hard to avoid it.

   [FEN "k7/1R6/2K5/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

Naturally, due the to rook’s limited mobility compared to the queen, there are less possible mating pictures. Nevertheless, due to his two-direction movement, the mating process is still relatively easy.

In the further course of this post two different mating mechanicsm will be demonstrated.

Initially, we will consider the slower method, because it is more “user – friendly.” Afterwards, we will demonstrate another technique, which is somewhat faster and which might be especially relevant while playing blitz games over the internet.

MATING MECHANISM #1

The first mating mechanicsm is rather plain simple. The basic idea is to repeat the mating picture along the files or ranks of the board. Every time White (note again that White will be the stronger side) “mates”, the Black king is forced back untill finally he is forced to the edge of the board.

Probably the reader will get a better visualisation of the everything written above if we consider the following diagram:

   [White “Rook Checkmate”]   [Black “Method 1”]   [Result “1-0”]   [FEN “8/8/8/8/4k3/8/8/RK6 w – – 0 1”]   {Here White can move either his king or his rook, but I think moving the rook first makes things more clear.}   1 Ra3   {White rook is preventing the black king from “stepping on” the highlighted squares. Therefore, Black  king’s area of movement is restriced. Usually, the expression is that the Black king is “cut”.}   1… Kd5   {Stepping back is easing White’s task somewhat, but here we show it simply to emhpasize once again that White should “cut” the Black king at every convenient opportunity.}   2 Ra4   {Naturally, there is nothing wrong with moving the king. However, moving the rook restricts the Black king further and is therefore to be prefered.}   2… Ke5 3 Kc2   {Time to bring the king.}   3… Kd5 4 Kd3 Ke5   {This is the key moment. White would like to align his king with the black’s king. However, if he moves 5 Ke3 then Black replies 5… Kd5 and White accomplishes nothing.   Therefore, the solution is simply to move the rook for one square.}   5 Rb4   {Now Black has to move and the game of “cat and mouse” can begin, because White tries to catch the Black king in order to give the check. When Black moves away, White king follows. If Black king is aligned (this time vertically) with the White king, White rook gives the check.}   5… Kf5 6 Ke3 Kg5 7 Kf3 Kh5 8 Kg3 Kg5   {This is the key position. Now that the kings are on the same file, White can give check.}   9 Rb5+ Kf6   10 Kg4   {Let the hunt begin . Again. Note that 10 Kf4 will probably lead to similar variations.}   10 … Ke6 11 Kf4 Kd6 12 Ke4 Kc6   {Since Black is now attacking the rook, White should move it. The easiest is to move it away to the other side of the board.}   13 Rh5 Kb6 14 Kd4 Ka6 15 Kc4 Kb6   {Now again there is no alignment, therefore White moves the rook.}   16 Rg5 Ka6 17 Kb4 Kb6   {Voila. Time to give the check.}   18 Rg6+ Kc7   {Sixth rank is won. Now the process is repeated.}   19 Kc5 Kd7 20 Kd5 Ke7 21 Ke5 Kf7   {Time to move the rook again:}   22 Ra6 Kg7 23 Kf5 Kh7 24 Kg5 Kg7   {Time to win the 7th rank.}   25 Ra7+ Kf8   {There you have it. The king is brought to the edge of the board. It is time to repeat the story one more time.}   26 Kf6 Ke8 27 Ke6 Kd8 28 Kd6 Kc8 29 Kc6 Kb8   {Time to move the rook. We are soon there.}   30 Rh7 Ka8 31 Kb6 Kb8   {And finally we have arrived to the position where we can give the mate.}   32 Rh8 mate

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

Naturally, the demonstrated mechanicsm is rather painful and hopefully you won’t be “brute forcing” the checkmate like this in your own games.

Because there is much more efficient way of mating that includes simultaneous action by king and rook.

MATING MECHANISM #2

The second proposed mechanicsm eliminated the need of the “long” rook moves to the other side of the board. Instead, White uses his king to support his rook when it is attacked, and therefore eliminates many superfluous moves.

Let us take another look at the starting position.

   [White “Rook Checkmate”]   [Black “Method 1”]   [Result “1-0”]   [FEN “8/8/8/8/4k3/8/8/RK6 w – – 0 1”]   1 Kc2   {It doesn’t make a difference whether White moves his rook or his king at this point, but it seems to me that moving the king is somewhat more consistent.}   1 … Kd4 2 Ra3   {So far nothing spectacular has happened}   2… Ke4 3 Rd3!   {This is the idea. White moves his rook again and using the king’s support “cuting” the black king more effectively compared to mechanism one.   Therefore, Black’s king is forced to go back.}   3 … Ke5 4 Kd2 Ke4   {It seems like nothing has been achieved since Black’s king is back.}   5 Ke2   {But now again he is forced to go back.}   5 … Ke5 6 Kf3   {Here temporarily the White king moves away from the rook and blocks the rook influence. Since Black’s king can’t make use of that, it is not very big problem.}   6… Kf5 7 Rd5   {Naturally, when an opportunity arises, White can use the mechanicsm one to push the Black king even further.}   7… Ke6 8 Ke4   8 … Kf6 9 Re5   {A familiar method}   9 … Kf7 10 Kf5   {We are almost there.}   10… Kg7 11 Re7+   {And now black king is forced towards the edge of the board and mate will soon follow.}   11 … Kf8   {I will let the reader figure out how White mates on other Black replies.}   12 Kf6   {Supporting the rook for the last time}   12… Kg8 13 Ra7   {Okay, the “long moves” aren’t completely eliminated, but we can survive playing only one.}   13 … Kh8 14 Kg6 Kg8   {All the prerequesites are met. Finally the mate is here.}   15 Ra8 mate.   {It is obvious that the second method is much faster and it doesn’t require endless “hunting. It is true that the length of both variations is only approximate. However, hopefully readers who weren’t familiar with the rook checkmate will know what to do if they encounter it over the board.}

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, feel free to use the comment section below, or send me an email.

The post How to mate with rook appeared first on Chessentials.

How to mate with queen

Mistreaver — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 15:28:33 +0000

INTRODUCTION

After we have explained the basic chess rules and movement of the pieces, we can take the next step. And that is learning the elementary ways of checkmating the opponent’s king.

Checkmating enemy king is the goal of every chess game. Therefore, learning how to checkmate should be one of the first steps of every chess beginner.

Since there are numerous ways to checkmate the enemy king, the question is where to begin.

While one could theoretically start with more complex mates, it wouldn’t make much sence. For educational purposes I think it is better to keep things rather simple. Therefore, learning to mate the “bare” opponent king is probably one of the very first thing every chessplayer should learn.

Because of their nature, such mates are also known as elementary mates.

Let us follow the Bible.. it claims it all started in the beginning

The easiest way is to start with the queen checkmate and than to gradually introduce mates with other pieces. Due to the queen’s great mobility, mating only with “her majesty” is the simplest and the fastest of all elementary mates.

MATING PICTURE

Before we get to the mating technique, let us examine the final position we are aiming for. Because without knowledge of the mating picture it often happens that a player is moving aimlessly without clear idea what he should do in a certain position.

The basic principle of the queen checkmate (and any other elemenatry checkmate, for that matter) is to bring the enemy king either to the corner or the edge of the board.

Several possible mating pictures are given on the diagrams below (please note that for simplicity’s sake I have assumed that White is always the stronger side)

   [FEN "1k6/1Q6/1K6/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

   [FEN "2k1Q3/8/1K6/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

   [FEN "8/8/8/8/8/2K5/1Q6/k7 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

The reader can notice that the White king is especially relevant in every diagram. Without the participation of the monarch, none of the elementary mates can be delivered.

While White is trying to deliver the checkmate, it is also important to avoid a few pitfalls. Because instead of checkmating, White may end up STALEMATING his opponent instead. Typical stalemate positions are given on the following diagrams:

   [FEN"1k6/8/1KQ5/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

   [FEN "k7/2Q5/3K4/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

After defining the mating picture we can start learning the mating mechanicsm. The main goal is to force the enemy king to the edge or the corner of the board. Fortunately, with the queen checkmate that task is rather straightforward.

Therefore, we will examine two possible ways of doing so.

First of all, we will consider the beginner’s method, where White uses both the king and the queen to push the enemy king back. This method is more reliable, but also somewhat longer.

MATING MECHANISM #1

Let us consider the following position, where White’s goal is to give the queen checkmate.

   [White “Queen checkmate”]   [Black “Method 1”]   [Result “1-0”]   [FEN “8/8/8/8/4k3/8/8/QK6 w – – 0 1”]   {White can start by either moving his king, or moving his queen.}   1 Qa3   {I recommend moving the queen, because it is easier to restrict the enemy’s king movement. After the text move the black king cannot ever cross the 3rd rank}   1… Kd4   {Black can fall back of course, but then White can either move his king as in the game, or move his queen to take one additional rank under her control. The text move is therefore comparatively best, because it prolonges the queen checkmate to a maximum extent.}   2  Kb2   {After the queen has “cut” the board horizontally, the king can come and help.}   2… Ke4 3 Kc2   {Ideally you don’t want to prevent the queen influence with the king.}   3… Kd4   {When your king is close enough to enemy king, you can use your queen to force the opposing king back.}   4 Qd3+   {Now the black king is forced back.}   4… Ke5 5 Qc4   {After we have forced the black king back, we move the queen again, so we can again restrict his movement.}   5… Kd6 6 Kd3   {Once we have restricted the king, we can repeat the process of pushing him back.}   6… Ke5 7 Qe4+   {Voila. The king is pushed again.}   7 … Kd6 8 Qf5   {Restricting the king horizontally on the 5th rank.}   8… Ke7 9 Qg6   {I have delibaretely gone back with the Black king. White could come with the king, but it is not neccessary, since White queen can now take an additional, sixth rank, under her control. Especially relevant to note is how the Black king gradually finds himself in the smaller  and smaller box.}   9… Kd7 10 Kc4   {Now again the White king can join.}   10… Kc7 11 Kc5 Kd7 12 Qd6+   {One of the final checks, finally forcing the king toward the edge of the board.}   12 … Kc8   {BEWARE! Whereas earlier the choice between king and queen move was a matter of taste, with the king approaching the edge of the board the player has to be careful not to STALEMATE the opponent.   If White now plays Kc6 the Black king will have no moves and the game will be drawn.}   13 Qe7 Kb8 14 Kb6   {Now the White king has managed to catch the Black one, and it only remains to deliver the mate next move.}   14 … Ka8 15 Qa7 mate

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

MATING MECHANISM 2

The second mating mechanism that will be examined is somewhat more sophisticated and includes mostly only queen moves.

But what’s the point of learning another mechanicsm if one is already known? Well, since the second mechanicsm is much faster, it might come in handy while trying to mate someone with little time on the clock while playing chess on internet.

Other practical value is nonexistent. Nevertheless, this banal example shows that often there are multiple solutions in chess.

Let us examine the starting position once again.

   [White “Queen checkmate”]   [Black “Method 2”]   [Result “1-0”]   [FEN “8/8/8/8/4k3/8/8/QK6 w – – 0 1”]   {Already after the first move we will see the change in philosophy:}   1 Qc3   {Especially relevant from the diagram is the position of the White queen toward the black king. It seems like it has the same L shape that a knight has when performing his movement.   While mating according to the 2nd mechanism, remember that getting the L shape is pretty much the whole point.   Because after the queen has been positioned toward the Black king, the latter can only move backwards. And that is the moment when the so – called dance begins.   Basically, the main idea is to repeat the move that Black king has just made, in order to keep the L shape persistently.}   1 … Kf4 2 Qd3   {From the diagram it is obvious that the L shape is conserved (green arrows). It is important to note that the Black king has moved one square to the right, and that the White queen has repeated that move (red arrows).   This process is repeated untill the Black king is brought toward the edge of the board.}   2 … Kg5 3 Qf3   {Both pieces move 1 square diagonally.}   3… Kg6 4 Qf4   {Both pieces move 1 square verticaly.}   4… Kg7 5 Qf5   {Both pieces move 1 square vertically.}   5 … Kh8   {BEWARE!  When the Black king steps into corner, it is time to stop following his moves with your queen. Because here is what would have happened if White played Qf7 here.   A  STALEMATE  position already examined in the post.   Therefore, it is neccessary either to bring the king closer, or first to cut the king on the back rank (or file). I prefer the latter approach}   6 Qd7   {This restricts the Black king’s movement only to squares g8 and h8. It only remains to bring the king either to g6 or h6, and to deliver the queen checkmate.}   6… Kg8 7 Kc2 Kh8 8 Kd3 Kg8 9 Ke4 Kh8 10 Kf5 Kg8 11 Kg6 Kh8 12 Qh7  mate

your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

It is noticable that the 2nd method is much faster.

But then again, there is a very old story about a rabbit and a tortoise.

Those who hurry in chess increase their chance to finish as a rabbit

CONCLUSION

Congratulations. You have just learned the basic way to win a chess game – a queen checkmate.

If you have any questions, comments and suggestions, please comment below, or contact me in any way, I will try to answer

The post How to mate with queen appeared first on Chessentials.