How to Avoid a Scholar's Mate in Chess

Unlike the two-move Fool's Mate which really never occurs in practice, many new chess players fall victim to the four-move Scholar's Mate, or some variant of it. This article shows you the steps for avoiding it, while discussing some strategy tips at each step. This article uses algebraic chess notation. If you are not familiar with it, please just follow along with the diagrams or see the Resources section for more information.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 

   The game starts with 1. e4 e5. Each player moves his king's pawn forward, which is quite common in both beginner as well as expert play.

2. 

   White moves 2. Qh5. A new player playing Black might be momentarily nervous by this aggressive move, but will probably soon realize that his/her king is in no immediate danger, and the queen is easily chased away with a pawn or knight move. Black's bigger concern will probably be in protecting his/her e5 pawn, as well as the check that will result if the queen moves there. The typical response for Black is 2. …Nc6, guarding the e5 square.

3. 

   White then moves 3. Bc4. A new player will see this move as innocent enough, and merely an example of White developing his pieces. What will probably not be seen, though, is that the f7 square is now doubly-attacked by the bishop and queen. If White moves his Queen to capture on f7, the game is over. A new player who does not see this is likely to move 3. …Nf6, attempting to chase away the queen.

4. 

   Notice how doing this does not solve the problem. White can still move 4. Qxf7#. Black can prevent this embarrassingly quick defeat by chasing away the queen via 3. …g6. White must then either immediately move his/her queen to safety, or check the Black king with the bishop in order to stall for time. If White does that, Black can just capture the bishop with the king, and White will then move his/her queen to safety.

5. Note that even though Black can no longer castle if that occurs, s/he is still very much ahead of the game. S/he has won a bishop for a pawn, and is ahead in piece development. White now also must worry about his/her prematurely developed queen.

6. 

   Note that after Black protects him/herself against mate by playing 3. …g6, White will sometimes try to move 4. Qf3, attempting the same double-attack on f7 from a different angle. This is easily defended against by 4. …Nf6. After that line of play, Black is really ahead. His/her pieces are better developed, and again, White has to worry about his prematurely developed queen.

7. If you are playing against a brand new player, you might be able to get away with attempting a Scholar's Mate. However, if your efforts are refuted, you will probably be sorry that you didn't first develop your knights, bishops, and pawn structure before having the queen fly all over the board. Have fun!

Resources

• How to Use Algebraic Chess Notation
• How to Avoid a Fool's Mate in Chess

[bar10dr98]

on 1/8/2009 Thanks for explaining this. Very detailed information, 5*!

[sunshine11219]

on 1/7/2009 very intresting