Basic Checkmates
(Click on the first move of each example to change the diagram)
King and Queen Checkmate
General Principles:
1) "My Queen cannot do it alone."
2) "My
King is a fighting piece and must help."
3) "I need to force my opponent to the back or
side."
4) "I must remember to give my opponent a little space to avoid a stalemate."
The following example illustrates one method used to checkmate your opponent when you have a Queen
and your opponent has only a King.
Step 1 - Force the Black King to the back (or side) of the board.
Step 2 - Use the King and Queen together to deliver checkmate.
1.Qb5
Kd6 2.Kf2 Ke6
3.Qc5 Kf6 4.Kf3
Ke6 5.Kf4 Kf6
6.Qd6+ Kf7 7.Kf5
Kg7 8.Kg5 Kf7
9.Qd7+ Kg8 10.Kg6
Kf8 11.Qf7#
King and Rook Checkmate
General Principles:
1 "My Rook cannot do it alone."
2 "My King
is a fighting piece and must help."
3 "I need to force my opponent to the back or side."
4 "I must remember to give my opponent a little space to avoid a stalemate."
The following
example illustrates one method used to checkmate your opponent when you have a Rook and your opponent
has only a King.
Step 1 - Force the Black King to the back (or side) of the board.
Step 2 - Use
the King and Rook together to deliver checkmate. If your opponent plays his best moves you will need
to use a "waste" move to force him to the mating square.
1.Rb5
Kd6 2.Ke2 Kc6
3.Rf5 Kd6 4.Ke3
Ke6 5.Ke4 Kd6
6.Re5 Kc6 7.Rd5
Kb6 8.Kd4 Kc6
9.Kc4 Kb6 10.Rd6+
Kc7 (if ...Ka5, White mates in 2 moves)
11.Kc5
Kb7 12.Rd7+ Kc8
13.Kc6 Kb8 14.Kb6 This
is the key position. We need to force Black to b8, but how?? See Step 2 above.
14...Kc8 This
is the key position. We need to force Black to b8, but how?? See Step 2 above.
15.Rd6 This
is the "waste" move.
15...Kb8 16.Rd8#
The chess pieces created by E. Bartel are distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL