How to Checkmate With King and Queen in Chess

In chess, when you have a king and queen and your opponent is down to only a king, you have a strong advantage. However, when you get down to only a few pieces, it can be hard to pin down a checkmate. You also risk a stalemate. Use this method to get to the end of the game and ensure a checkmate.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Position your queen within striking distance of your opponents king. The safest and most effective way to do this is to place the queen a knight's move away. The knight moves in an L shape, so place the queen one square away on the outer axis and two squares away on the other. The direction the L points does not matter.

2. Maintain the L shape. As the enemy king moves, move your queen to keep the L shape distance in tact. For example, if the king moves one square to the left, move your queen one square to the left.

3. Make an adjustment when your queen gets to the edge of the board. Your opponent may try to avoid checkmate by moving to the edge of the board. If this happens, simply move two spaces back toward the center of the board to form a new L shape.

4. Trap the king. Eventually, the king will be on the very edge of the board. When this happens, move the queen to a place which restricts the king to only moving on the edge row of the board.

5. Move in your king for backup. Once you have the enemy king restricted to one row of the board, move your king next to your queen. Checkmate the enemy king with your queen, using your king as protection.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid putting your queen in danger from the enemy king. If your queen is captured, only the kings will be left. A match with only two kings is a stalemate.