Scholar's mate

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
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4 {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} white bishop {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} white pawn {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king 4
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Scholar's mate

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, though there are other ways to checkmate in four moves.

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[edit] Avoiding scholar's mate

An animation showing a Scholar's Mate

Unlike fool's mate, which rarely occurs at any level, 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, Portugal, and Latin America, scholar's mate is known as shepherd's mate. In Italy it is known as barber's mate, in Iran, Greece and most of the Arab world as Napoleon's Plan, in Russia as children's mate and in Poland (where fool's mate is known as scholar's mate), Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia, and Israel as shoemaker's mate. In Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, it is known as school mate. It has also occasionally been given other names in English-speaking countries, such as schoolboy's mate and Blitzkrieg; German for "lightning war", meaning a very short and very quick engagement (Kidder 1960).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholar%27s_mate"
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