Fool's mate
In chess, Fool's Mate, also known as the "two-move checkmate", is the checkmate delivered after the fewest possible moves from the game's starting position. It can be achieved only by Black, giving checkmate on move 2 with the queen. Fool's Mate received its name because it can only occur if White commits an extraordinary blunder. Even among rank beginners, this checkmate rarely occurs in practice.
Example
Fool's Mate – White is checkmated.
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 Animation demonstrating Fool's Mate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An example of Fool's Mate consists of the moves:
resulting in the position shown. The pattern can have slight variations: Black could play ...e6 or ...e5, and White could play f4 rather than f3. Additionally, the order in which White advances the f- and g-pawns could be alternated.
Variations
Similar mating patterns can occur early in the game. In the case of 1. e4 g5 2. d4 f6?? 3. Qh5# the roles are reversed, but the principle is the same: a player (Black) advances their f- and g- pawns such that the white queen can mate along the unblocked diagonal. When White is the mating party, however, the reversal requires an extra turn or half-move, also known in computer chess as a ply. A corresponding board position prior to checkmate was presented as No. 73, a "mate-in-one" problem in the popular chess puzzle book Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess; the solution bore the comment "Black foolishly weakened his King's defenses. This game took three moves!!"[1]
A possibly apocryphal variant of Fool's Mate has been reported by several sources. The 1959 game 1. e4 g5 2. Nc3 f5?? 3. Qh5# has been attributed to Masefield and Trinka, although the players' names have also been reported as Mayfield, Mansfield, Trinks, or Trent.[2][3][4][5][6] Further, a similar mate can occur in From's Gambit: 1. f4 e5 2. g3? exf4 3. gxf4?? Qh4#.
Teed vs. Delmar
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 |              | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
A well-known trap in the Dutch Defence occurred in the game Frank Melville Teed–Eugene Delmar, 1896:[7][8]
- 1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 g5 4. Bg3 f4
It seems that Black has won the bishop, but now comes ...
- 5. e3
Threatening Qh5#, a basic Fool's Mate.
- 5... h5 6. Bd3?!
Probably better is 6.Be2, but the move played sets a trap.
- 6... Rh6??
Defending against Bg6#, but ...
- 7. Qxh5+!
White sacrifices his queen to draw the black rook away from its control of g6.
- 7... Rxh5 8. Bg6#
Greco vs. NN
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 | | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
A similar trap occurred in a game published by Gioachino Greco in 1625:
- 1. e4 b6
- 2. d4 Bb7
- 3. Bd3 f5?
- 4. exf5 Bxg2?
- 5. Qh5+ g6
- 6. fxg6 Nf6??
Opening up a flight square for the king at f8 with 6...Bg7 would have prolonged the game. White still wins with 7.Qf5! Nf6 8.Bh6 Bxh6 9.gxh7 Bxh1 (9...e6 opens another flight square at e7; then White checks with 10.Qg6+ Ke7) 10.Qg6+ Kf8 11.Qxh6+ Kf7 12.Nh3, but much slower than in the game.[9]
- 7. gxh7+! Nxh5 8. Bg6#
References
- Fischer, Bobby; Margulies, Stuart; Mosenfelder, Donn (1972). Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. Bantam. pp. 95–96. ISBN 9780553263152.
- Mike Fox and Richard James (1993). The Even More Complete Chess Addict. Faber and Faber. p. 177.
- Winter, Edward (2005). Chess Facts and Fables. McFarland & Co. pp. 253–254. ISBN 978-0-7864-2310-1.
- Edward G. Winter (August 2006). "Chess Notes 4493. Short game".
- Edward G. Winter (August 2006). "Chess Notes 4506. Short game (C.N. 4493)".
- Averbakh, Yuri Lvovich; Beilin, Mikhail Abramovich (1972). Путешествие в шахматное королевство (in Russian). Fizkultura i sport. p. 227.
- "Teed vs. Delmar". Retrieved December 16, 2020.
- Edward G. Winter (September 3, 2006). "Chess Notes 4561. 1 d4 f5 2 Bg5".
- Lev Alburt (2011). Chess Openings for White, Explained. Chess Information Research Center. p. 509.
Further reading
- Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1996) [First pub. 1992]. The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280049-7.
