Expert: Emperor_Earth - 4/18/2004

Question
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Followup To
Question -
How can you get check mate in 2,3or 4 moves . Can you give me the answer in co_ordinates eg A2 goes to A3 . Im only wanting to Know because i have just started playing chess and i want to beat my dad . Thanks
Answer -
I just answered a question just like that and this was my answer(ask back if it isn't very clear): (His question was a little bit different, but I answer all of your questions in here)

First of all before I begin, tell me, how will it help you if you know how to checkmate in 3, 4, or 5 moves? If you are playing chess to win games, the chance will never arise, unless you never stop playing absolute first-day beginners. The practicality and usefullness of these "quickie" check-mates is very very limited. It might be cool to brag a bit with them, but ultimately they prove little and mean less. Okay, now that I've given my lecture, I guess it if safe to tell you how to do it, if only for the sake of its knowledge.

Okay, since you want to know short mates, I will show you short mates. There is this mate that can be done in two moves, and it's called the Fool's Mate.
Moves
-----
1. f3 e5
2. g4 Qh4++

There it is plain and simple. If white wins here, then it would be 3 moves, say:
Moves
-----
1. e4 f6
2. ** g5
3.Qh5++

** indicates any move that will not arouse suspicion or stop the movement of the queen

Well, now onto the 4-move checkmate, or the Scholar's Mate
Move
----
1. e4 (black does anything almost, except a d-pawn move, unless his will move e-pawn; e7; or an f-pawn move)
2.Bc4 (black does anything here, except a d-pawn move unless his e-pawn is moved or will be; e7; Qe7 which effectively destroys any hope of a checkmate there; an f-pawn move, or Nf6)
3. ** (black does anything except the stuff stated before
4. Qxf6++

** indicates either Qh5 or Qf3, depending on if the g-pawn of the opponent is advanced one (calling for Qf3) or the opponent's f-pawn is advanced two then Qh4. If neither of these two situations exist, then use this guage:

1. If the player is an absolute beginner go with Qh4. Why?
Because if they're an absolute beginner, they will have either never seen it and ignore your queen's intrusion or will have seen it before and attempt to block it the most direct method available to them, g6. Then you queen can go Qxe5, assuming his pawn is there, as most beginners hear that that is a good move and tend to do it, and then with your check you can eliminate his king's rook through the opening g6 allowed and even take another pawn or a knight. Around this point the beginner will tend to resign and you can be content with the win. Just don't play too many times, sometimes they figure out the tricks to stop that combo relatively quickly, and then you become the student, not the venerable master.. lol.

2. If your opponent has played a few games, enough that you can assume with some degree of accuracy that they have seen this combo, then go with Qf3, as less people tend to use it, and with the queen much closer to your base your opponents tend to think of it as less of a threat... If they ignore your move, then smite them for the ignorance and laugh in their face. If they do see it, the advantage of Qf3 is that it is not that horrible of a move and since you are not playing a grandmaster (if you are, then resign right now, save your face and pride while you still can, lol) and thus livable. Sometimes the opponent gets careless and forgets about the checkmate and thus you can come in. Also, the move helps in some positions and I have won a few games with that position when I used that opening way back when.

Now, the five-move checkmate, as far as I know it does NOT exist. Unless that is you add an extra move to any of the previous few checkmates to stretch it out and cover any really suspicious activities, then I guess it could qualify for a "5-move checkmate".

Well, hope I helped and if you need any more feel free to contact me again, I'll be here for a while unless I die in an accident of some sorts:) Oh, by the way, I recommend you read my first paragraph again, it will remind you not to jump and immediately try these moves, not in a rated game at least. In nonrated games, try them by all means. I have developed a few hundred variations to the Scholar's Mate to make it look like my intentions are harmless, or to counter my opponent's countering of my attempted quick checkmates, and if the opponent isn't thorough in his checking for any weaknesses in his position, due to the ultra-sharp nature of the Scholar's Mate opening you pretty much guaranteed yourself a win, but if and only if your opponent screws up. If he plays right and you play right or wrong, he will have the upper-hand regardless, so reread my first paragraph and do what you will. Remember to ask if you've got questions:)





I dont get the f3 to e5 and the rest of the numbers that you have gave me because if you move f3 to e5 you cant because there isint anything on f3 to move to e5 , Have you not got the short mates in simple form for the less inteligent like me . it will help if i win against my dad because he keeps bragging to me about nobody has ever beat him so if i beat him he will stop bragging and keep playing me so i can practice . Thanks


Answer
I am most sorry I did not clarify my response. I was using standard chess notation when I described the moves. I'll show you how it goes.

The "1." means first move for both white and black. On the left hand column is white's move, and the right hand column is black's move. When you indicate a move, you will say what piece it is that is moving, let's say the Queen, and then what square it is moving to, lets say "h5", thus you would write Qh5, or Queen to h5. The corresponding symbols with the piece names are:
Piece  Symbol
-----  ------
King   K
Queen  Q
Rook   R
Bishop B
Knight N

For the pawn, you would write nothing. So "f3" means pawn to f3. This is the most common notation for tracking chess games, as it is the fastest and most logical. I shouldn't have assumed you knew it, the previous person did know it so I presented it to him in this form. Oh, in case you do want to know more about this notation, (as it is the standard form...) here are some stuff


Here are some stuff to indicate what a move will mean, they are to be placed right after the notation, like "Qh5++" means Queen to h5, and this move mates.

Symbol  Meaning
------  -------
++      checkmate
+       check
!      a brilliant move
!       a good move
!?      a risky move that might be good
?!      a questionable move that seems to be bad
?       a blunder
?      a really bad blunder that might mean the game

How would you know which piece goes where if there is more than one piece that can move there? Say two rooks are on a1 and e1 respectively and you want the a1 rook to go to d1, but Rd1 doesn't work too well in this case. Then, you can do one of two things, you can write this R(a)d1 or write R(a1)d1. If the rooks are on a1 and a7, and one is to go to a5,  and you want the a1 rook to go to a5, then you can say R(1)a5 or R(a1)a5.

Well now, the final tidbit of info, how do you denote capturing? You would place "x" in between the piece and the place the piece goes to, say the queen captures on h5 and captures a piece on h5. Thus you would say "Qxh5". For a pawn, thought, you could say "xh5".

You can combinate any of these things that you would logically put together, like "Qxh5++!", which means Queen takes of h5 which checkmates and is a brilliant move. "Qxh5++?" wouldn't be acceptable, as a checkmate is rarely a stupid move... lol
Well, hope I've cleared things up, just email back if you need anything; and sorry again about the confusion.