as this means white will have to move their queen – they’re moving their queen around whilst you are developing your pieces! If 3… g6 is played, it is likely that white will play 4. While 3…Qf6, 3…Qe7 and even 3…Nh6 protect the f7 pawn and thus prevent mate. Similarly, in the first game 3… g6 can be played to block the queen’s attack on the f7 pawn. if the pawn on c5 were to be taken it would be possible to take back with the bishop). Secondly, 3… e6 (this blocks the bishop’s access to the f7 pawn, preventing the checkmate, it also means that bishop on f8 is defending the pawn on c5 – i.e. Firstly 3… Nf6, this blocks the queen’s access to the f7 pawn, it also develops one of black’s pieces – bringing the knight into a more prominent position. Black has two easy moves which both improve their development and stop the checkmate being delivered. We can see that both the queen and the bishop are attacking the f7 square. Now consider the situation from the second game after white’s 3rd move. Fortunately it isn’t as rather suggested by the last paragraph. If the scholar’s mate were unavoidable, chess would be a rather short and dull game. The moves black makes matter very little so long as they don’t block the bishop or the queen’s attack on the f7 square, defend the f7 square and black doesn’t move their queen or queen’s pawn. So in essence the scholar’s mate consists of moving the e pawn forward, moving the bishop and queen to attack the f7 square then taking off the f7 pawn with the queen. Here’s another game which is a Scholar’s-type mate The Scholar’s mate is shown in this link:ġ.e4e5 (so far this is normal – a very standard opening with a very standard response)Ģ.Bc4Nc6 (Bc4 brings white’s light square bishop into a position which is attacking the f7 pawn.)ģ.Qh5Nf6? (Qh5 brings whites queen into a position where it too is attacking the f7 pawn, Nf6 is a serious blunder meaning black is doomed!)Ĥ.Qxf7# (White checkmates! The king has no square to escape to, can’t take the queen – the king cannot take the queen as black would still be in check from white’s bishop and cannot put a piece between the king and white’s queen.

This makes it a tempting target! The Scholar’s mate (and similar patterns) take advantage of this to deliver a checkmate in four moves. only the king could take a piece that took the f7 pawn. In the opening position in a game of chess (see picture below) we can see that only the king is protecting the pawn on f7 i.e.

So I’m now going to discuss a very common trap into which the beginner often falls.

Scholars checkmate