The Fastest Checkmates in Chess and How to Stop Them

How fast can a chess game end?

The fastest possible checkmate takes just two moves and is called Fool's Mate. Black is the one who wins, because White unwittingly helps. White needs at least three moves to mate, for example after 1.e4 f6 2.d4 g5 3.Qh5#.

Quick mates like these only work if the other side makes serious mistakes. Still, they are worth knowing, because they reveal the weak spots present in every game: the diagonal next to the king, the f7 and f2 squares, and the back rank.

Fool's Mate: checkmate in two moves

The classic sequence is 1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4#. By moving both the f-pawn and the g-pawn, White has opened the diagonal from h4 to e1. The black queen slides to h4 with check. The king cannot escape, since its neighboring squares are occupied by its own pieces or covered by the queen, and nothing can block.

There are small variations, such as 1.f4 e5 2.g4 Qh4# or 1.g4 e5 2.f3 Qh4#. The lesson is always the same: do not push the pawns in front of your king early in the game, especially not the f-pawn and g-pawn together. They are its shield.

Scholar's Mate move by move

Scholar's Mate is the trap almost every beginner walks into at least once. A typical sequence goes 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qh5 Nf6?? 4.Qxf7#. Bishop and queen both aim at f7, a square defended only by the black king at the start. The queen captures there, the bishop protects her, and the king can neither take back nor run.

The move order can vary, for example 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6?? 4.Qxf7#. The key is always Black's last error: the knight move to f6 looks natural because it attacks the queen, but it leaves f7 defenseless against the combined attack of queen and bishop.

How to defend against Scholar's Mate

The good news: once you see the threat, it is easy to stop, and you often end up better off because White's queen came out too early. After 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qh5, the move 3...g6 is a reliable answer that chases the queen away. If 4.Qf3, then 4...Nf6 covers f7 again and Black develops comfortably.

• 3...g6: kicks the queen off h5, then the knight goes to f6.
• 3...Qe7: guards f7 and the e5 pawn together, though it blocks the f8 bishop for a while.
• Rule of thumb: with a queen on h5 or f3 and a bishop on c4, always check f7 first.

Back rank mate

Back rank mate decides countless games, even between experienced players. After castling, the king sits behind its pawns, for instance on g8 with pawns on f7, g7 and h7. If an enemy rook or queen reaches the eighth rank, the king cannot step forward because its own pawns are in the way. If nothing covers the back rank, it is mate.

The fix is simple: give your king some air in time, for example with h3 or h6, so it has an escape square. Alternatively, keep a rook on the back rank while heavy pieces are still on the board. And watch out for overloading: if your only back rank defender also has another job, trouble is brewing.

Smothered mate

Smothered mate is the most elegant of the basic patterns. The king is so boxed in by its own pieces that it has no square left, and a knight delivers mate. Because knights jump, the check cannot be blocked.

The famous combination goes like this: Black's king is on h8, a rook on f8, pawns on g7 and h7, and White's queen sits on the diagonal leading to g8, say on c4. White plays Nf7+, and the king must go to g8. Then Nh6+ is double check from knight and queen, so the king returns to h8. Now the queen sacrifices herself with Qg8+, the rook has to capture, and Nf7 is mate. The king is trapped by its own army.

Practice mating patterns with Chess of the Gods

Mating patterns only really stick once you have seen them in your own games. In Chess of the Gods you play real chess against the computer, offline on iPhone, iPad and Android. On Beginner you have a good chance to land a back rank mate. On Normal and Divine you learn to defend against these traps yourself. Keep an eye on the three weak spots from this article: the diagonal next to your king, the f7 and f2 squares, and your back rank. After every game, the review shows you whether one of them caused trouble.