Chess lessons › Checkmate patterns
Mate with the queen
Mate a lone king with your queen and king, and keep clear of stalemate.
The idea
Mate a lone king with your queen and king, and avoid stalemate.
- Your king comes close, because the queen cannot mate alone.
- A queen move here gives no check and leaves no move: stalemate.
- Instead the queen checks next to the king, guarded by yours: mate.
In a game: Against a lone king, make sure it still has a move until the move that mates.
The lesson
With a king and queen against a lone king you can always give mate. The plan has three parts: use the queen to box the king in, bring your own king up to help, then give mate at the edge of the board.
Watch one whole mate. Each time the queen moves, she lands a knight’s move from the king and takes squares away, and the white king walks over.
- 1. Qd7 The queen stands a knight’s move from the king. The king cannot cross her lines.
- 1... Ke4 2. Ke2 Now the white king walks over to help. The queen cannot mate alone.
- 2... Kf4 3. Qd5 Again a knight’s move away. Every move the box gets smaller.
- 3... Kg4 4. Ke3 The king comes closer, and the black king still has a move, so it is not stalemate.
- 4... Kg3 5. Qg5+ Check. The king is driven to the edge of the board.
- 5... Kh2 6. Kf2 The white king is in place to protect the queen.
- 6... Kh1 7. Qg1# Checkmate. The queen is next to the king, and the white king protects her.
A question
It is Black’s move. The black king is in the corner, it is not in check, and every square it could move to is attacked. What is the result?
Show the answer
The game is a draw: this is stalemate.
Right. Stalemate is a draw. A queen that covers every square without giving check throws the win away.
Find the move
White to move. One natural queen move here is stalemate. Find a checkmate instead.
A hint
Give check in a way that leaves the king no square.
Show the answer
1. Qg7#
Several queen moves are mate, such as Qg7 and Qh6. Qg6 would be stalemate: the king has no move and is not in check, so the game is drawn.
Play it out
Now you play it. The tablebase defends perfectly, so there are no tricks. Use the plan: keep the queen a knight’s move away, bring your king up, and check the black king always has a move until the last one.
In the lesson you play this out on the board, against the endgame tablebase’s best defence.
Play it out
A harder start: your king is far from the black king. The queen cannot mate on her own, so walk the king over while the queen keeps the black king boxed in.
In the lesson you play this out on the board, against the endgame tablebase’s best defence.
In numbers
Positions to practise
24 positions in the study, every result proved by the tablebase: 24 are wins for the side to move, with best play on both sides.