LOOKING FOR MATES

How do you win a game of chess? That's right: by getting CHECKMATE. And to get CHECKMATE you first need a CHECK. If you play a CHECK and your opponent cannot get out of it, then what is it? It's CHECKMATE. Let's look at a couple of games which finish with a very quick CHECKMATE.

The first one goes like this.

White moves his pawn from f2 to f3, giving our first diagram. This is one of the WORST ways to start a game of chess, as you'll see.











Black, on the other hand, plays an excellent move. He moves his pawn from e7 to e5. You'll see the position in the second diagram.








Now White plays a REALLY bad move. He moves his pawn from g2 to g4.

Now stop and look at the position, Decide what move you think Black should play here. Remember what we were talking about at the start of the lesson.

You win a game by getting CHECKMATE. So it's always worth looking to see if you can find any CHECKS. You never know, they might just be CHECKMATE. Can you find any CHECKS for Black here?

Yes - the Queen can move from d8 to h4, CHECKING the White King along the diagonal. Have a look at the position after Black has played this move.

Do you remember the three ways of getting out of checkmate? CAPTURE the CHECKING piece, BLOCK the CHECK by putting a piece in the way, or MOVE the King. Let's see what White can do here? Can you find a way for White to CAPTURE the Black Queen? No! Can you find a way for White to BLOCK the CHECK by putting a piece on either f2 or g3? No! If you think you've found something you're moving a piece the wrong way! Can White MOVE his King to a safe square? What about f2? No - he's still in CHECK to the Black Queen. So, what is it? It's CHECKMATE! Who's won the game? Black has!

This is called FOOL'S MATE, because only a fool would lose like that. It's CHECKMATE in two moves. The quickest possible way of getting CHECKMATE in a game of chess. (When we count moves in chess we count a White move plus a Black move as one move.)

Set up the pieces and try again.

This time, White plays a much better move: he moves the Pawn in front of his King two squares, from e2 to e4. Black does the same thing: he moves his Pawn from e7 to e5. Now White moves his Queen as far as she can go along the diagonal: from d1 to h5. Let's look at the diagram before moving on.




Black plays a Knight move: from b8 to c6. We'll look it this position again in the next lesson and explain why this is his best move.

Stop and have a look for CHECKS in this position. White has two possible checks. Can you find them? He can move his Queen to take the Pawn on e5. That's CHECK. Is it safe? NO! The Black Knight on c6 can CAPTURE the Queen. White can also move his Queen to take the Pawn on f7. That's also CHECK. Is it safe? NO! The Black King can safely CAPTURE the White Queen.





But this move gives White an idea about how to get a quick CHECKMATE. He moves his Bishop from f1 to c4, to give the diagram on your right.







Now Black makes a mistake. He moves his Knight from g8 to f6. Have a look at the position and see if you can find a way for White to get CHECKMATE!

If you haven't found it yet and would like a clue, look at White's Queen and Bishop. Do you see how they are working together?

White's Queen and Bishop are both ATTACKING the Pawn on f7. Let's see what happens if White CAPTURES the Pawn. He might take it with the Bishop. It's CHECK. Is if safe, or can Black CAPTURE the Bishop? If you thought Black could capture the Bishop, look again at the White Queen on h5. If Black's King CAPTURES the Bishop on f7 he'll find himself in CHECK from the Queen. So taking the Bishop would be an ILLEGAL MOVE. But what Black CAN do is move his King to a safe square, from e8 to e7. Is that CHECK? No! So taking the Pawn on f7 with the Bishop is not CHECKMATE.

Now move the Bishop back to c4 and try taking the Pawn on f7 with the Queen. Have a look at the position. How can Black get out of CHECK?

Can the Black King CAPTURE the White Queen? If you think the answer's YES, look again at the Bishop on c4. The Black King CANNOT CAPTURE the White Queen. It is an ILLEGAL MOVE. He will leave himself in CHECK from the White Bishop on c4. Can any other Black piece CAPTURE the White Queen? NO! Can Black BLOCK the CHECK? NO: there is no square between f7 and e8! Can Black MOVE his King to a safe square? NO. The only possible square is e7, and there he would still be in CHECK from the White Queen. He cannot CAPTURE, BLOCK or MOVE so it's CHECKMATE! Who's won the game? White has.

This CHECKMATE is called SCHOLAR'S MATE. A SCHOLAR is someone who goes to school, and everyone who plays chess at school loses lots of games like this. So make sure you know it. Remember it and try it out at home against your Dad or Mum and see if it works against them.

This really is important, so in the next lesson we'll look at how to stop SCHOLAR'S MATE.

Next, a story. Here's 10-year-old Paul, playing Black against Ann in his first game of chess at his school chess club.

Ann played a first move you've seen before: she moved her Pawn from e2 to e4.

Paul moved his Pawn from d7 to d6, giving the position in the diagram.





Now Ann saw the chance to get in a quick CHECK. She moved her Bishop from f1 to b5. "It's check" she exclaimed, "and you can't move your King anywhere. So it's CHECKMATE. I've won the game."

Paul, a polite boy, shook her hand and said "Congratulations! Well played!" But was it really CHECKMATE? Let's have a look. Yes, Ann was right. The King has no safe squares. The only available square is d7, which would still be CHECK from the Bishop. Can we CAPTURE the Bishop? Again, NO! But Ann and Paul had both forgotten that you can also get out of CHECK from a Queen, Rook or Bishop by BLOCKING: putting a piece in the way. How many ways can you find to BLOCK the CHECK? There are FIVE in total: Paul could:

Move his Pawn from c7 to c6.
Move his Knight from b8 to c6.
Move his Knight from b8 to d7.
Move his Bishop from c8 to d7.
Move his Queen from d8 to d7 (NOT a good move!).

So it was nowhere near CHECKMATE! So, don't forget all THREE possible ways to get out of check: MOVE, CAPTURE or BLOCK.

(In fact, Ann's second move wasn't very good. If Paul had moved his Pawn to c6, her Bishop would have been in trouble and have had to move again.)

But there's more to the story than that. Paul grew up to become a Grandmaster, and play top board for Scotland. Ann, though, was never heard of again.

So if you're finding chess difficult at the moment, don't worry. If you keep working at it you might end up a Grandmaster yourself.

And one more story. Nearly 50 years ago, in a country called Latvia, a little boy called Misha, about your age, played his first game of chess against his older cousin. He lost in four moves: to SCHOLAR'S MATE. And he grew up to become World Champion, and one of the strongest players of all time.

Finally, this lesson provides us with another HELPFUL HINT.

Always look at every CHECK. It might just be CHECKMATE, or lead to CHECKMATE.










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CHECKMATE?













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CHECKMATE?