This mating pattern is called the Scholar's Mate because it frequently appears in games played by beginners who are just learning chess. The name varies a lot across languages though: e.g. Children’s Mate, Shepherd’s Mate, etc.
The pattern involves a Queen and a Bishop attacking an uncastled King. The Queen, protected by the Bishop, delivers mate from the f7 square (or f2 in the case of Black's Queen). It is one of the fastest possible checkmates. It usually comes from these opening moves (but the same pattern may be reached by other move orders): 1.e4 e5, 2.Qh5 Nc6, 3.Bc4 Nf6?? trying to dislodge White's Queen (see diagram). White, however, uses the pattern and wins with 4.Qxf7#.
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When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on the Scholar's Mate. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this checkmate pattern.
In this fun video GM Hikaru Nakamura goes through the fastest possible checkmates. Don’t skip it, as Hikaru also tells how he once lost to a Scholar’s Mate!
Another excellent chess.com lecture aimed at beginners by FM Lilov. In this lesson the focus is on the weak f7 square. How to target it from the very beginning?
If you are a beginner, this book by Levy Rozman is a wonderful starting point. You can read through all of it without needing to use a board. The Scholar’s Mate is mentioned as well.
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