Class 1 (Elementary)
"The game is won by the player who has mated the opponent's king. This immediately ends the game" - Article 10.1 of the official laws of chess, FIDE.
But how do you get to that point? Let's try from a starting position below:
N.B. Don't allow stalemate!
In practice from the diagram below, you might play:
1 Ke2, Ke5; 2 Ke3, Kf5; 3. Qd5+ Kf6; 4 Kf4, Ke7; 5 Ke5,
Kf8; 6 Kf6, Ke8; 7 Qb7! (not 7 Qd6?? stalemate!) Kd8; 8 Kd6
mates.
Training exercise for one person Try doing this sort of mate as quickly as you can from different starting positions - count how many moves you make as the attacker, and see if you can get it as low as possible. Have another go tomorrow, and next week, to see if you improve. |
So the winning plan from the diagram below is:
1. Drive the king to the edge of the board using both K and R, stepping
in every time the K gives way
2. Arrange the K and R to mate the K
So, we can go 1. Ke2, Ke4; 2 Rh4+ Kd5; 3 Ke3, Ke5; 4 Rh5+ Ke6; 5 Ke4, Kd6; 6 Re5, Kc6; 7 Rd5, Kc7; 8 Kc5, Kb7; 9 Rd7+ Kc8 (or 9...Ka6; 10 Rc7!); 10 Kc6, Kb8; 11 Rg7! Ka8; 12 Kb6, Kb8; 13 Rg8#
The variation at move 9 is interesting. Black's K might be better off where it is, but does have to move even if it means walking into a mate. This unpleasant obligation is called zugzwang. Did you get this? In the next diagram we see a similar position where White could mate in 2.
With you as White to move, if you try and arrange things with 1 Kf6, he
sidesteps with 1...Kg8. If it was Black's turn to move, he would have to go
1...Kg8 and you could play 2 Re8#. But if it's your turn to move? Make it
Black's turn! Play 1 Re5! then its easy: 1...Kg8; 2 Re8#
The diagram above shows the mate with two bishops, which is not too much
of a struggle to force because the two bishops together form a barrier like a
rook does. Let's have a go from the diagram below:
BCF Certificate of Merit
Class 2 (Intermediate)
1. Bd2, Kd4; 2 Kf2, Ke4; 3 Be2, Kd4; 4
Kf3, Ke5; 5 Be3, Kd5; 6 Kf4, Kd6; 7
Bf3, Ke6; 8 Bc5, Kd7 (8...Kf6; 9
Bc4); 9 Ke5, Kc7; 10 Ke6, Kd8; 11 Bd6,
Kc8; 12 Bc6, Kd8; 13 Bb7, Ke8; 14
Bc7, Kf8; 15 Kf6! Ke8; 16 Bc6+ Kf8; 17
Bd6+ Kg8; 18 Kg6, Kh8; 19 Be8, Kg8; 20
Bf7+ Kh8; 21 Be5#
Capablanca recommended the study of this mate, not because it comes up very often, but to show the power of the two Bishops in combination. You try with two Knights, but don't hold your breath... ;-) You should see the differences in the nature of the pieces straight away.
![]() | COOL TIP: That probably isn't the most efficient but is easy to understand. And that's the secret of good chess - understanding. I hope you can see this pattern of driving the king back, cutting off squares, pushing it back to the edge of the board, in all these examples. Do try to repeat all these on a board yourself. |
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Training exercise
for two people Try doing various mates as quickly as you can from different starting positions - count how many moves one of you makes as the attacker, and see if the other can get it lower. Have another go tomorrow, and next week, to see if you both improve. |
back rank mate
The last of these three is known as Philidor's Legacy: 1 Nxf7+ and if
1...Kg8; 2 Nh6++! Kh8; 3 Qg8+! Rxg8; 4 Nf7, a terrific smothered mate.
So Black must play 1...Rxf7, losing the exchange in most situations.
smothered mate
fool's mate
![]() | COOL TIP: Obviously, there are loads of mates. You must develop a feel for the sorts of ways pieces work together to create checkmates. |
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Training exercise
for one person
One way to do this is to set up one corner of a board with a castled king's
position and try and mate the king using different combinations of pieces -
Q+B, Q+N, Q+R, R+B, and so on. |
This document (mates.html) was last modified on 12th July 1996 by
Dr. Dave