Scholar's mate
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- This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
In chess, scholar's mate is the checkmate which occurs after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7#. The moves may be played in a different order or with slight variations, but the basic idea – the queen and bishop combining in an attack on f7 (or f2 if Black is performing the mate) is the same. Sometimes scholar's mate is referred to as the four-move checkmate, however, there are other ways to checkmate in four moves.
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[edit] Avoiding scholar's mate
Unlike fool's mate, which rarely occurs at any level (and with which scholar's mate is sometimes confused), games ending in scholar's mate are quite common among beginners. However, it can be easily avoided; after 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4, for example, scholar's mate may occur after 3...Nf6 4.Qxf7#, but 3...g6 instead, defends against the mate. The move 4.Qf3, renewing the Qxf7 threat, is easily met by 4...Nf6. Black can later fianchetto his bishop by developing it to g7.
[edit] Openings
Though the actual mate is almost never seen at any level above beginner, the basic idea underlying it – that the f7 square, being defended only by Black's king, is weak and therefore a good target for attack – motivates a number of chess openings. For example, after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 (the Two Knights Defense), White's most popular move is 4.Ng5, attacking f7, which is awkward for Black to defend. The Fried Liver Attack involves a knight sacrifice on f7.
The Parham Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Qh5!?) and Napoleon Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Qf3?!) are both directed at threatening scholar's mate with 3.Bc4 on the next move. Although the Napoleon Opening is never seen in high-level games, the Parham Attack has occasionally been played in serious tournament games by grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.
[edit] Names around the world
In some areas, including France, Turkey, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as Spain and Brazil, scholar's mate is known as shepherd's mate. In Italy it is known as barber's mate, in Iran as Napoleon, in Russia as children's mate and in Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia, and Israel as shoemaker's mate. It has also occasionally been given other names in English-speaking countries, such as schoolboy's mate and Blitzkrieg; German for "lightning war"(Kidder 1960).
[edit] References
- Hooper, David & Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess (second ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280049-3
- Kidder, Harvey (1960), Illustrated Chess for Children, Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-05764-4
- Sunnucks, Anne (1970), The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martins Press, ISBN 978-0709146971
