Fool's mate

Chess diagram|=
tright|
=8 |rd|nd|bd| |kd|bd|nd|rd|=7 |pd|pd|pd|pd| |pd|pd|pd|=6 | | | | | | | | |=5 | | | | |pd| | | |=4 | | | | | | |pl|qd|=3 | | | | | |pl| | |=2 |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl| | |pl|=1 |rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl|= a b c d e f g h
Fool's mate. White is checkmated.:"For the Peter Hammill album of the same name, see Fool's Mate (album)"

Fool's mate, also known as the "two-move checkmate," is the quickest possible checkmate in the game of chess. One example consists of the moves

:1. :2.

leading to the position shown. There are eight slight variations on the pattern — White might play f4 instead of f3 or move the g-pawn before the f-pawn, and Black may play e6 instead of e5.

The fool's mate received its name because it can only occur if White plays extraordinarily weakly, i.e. like a fool. Even among rank beginners, the mate almost never occurs in practice.

The same basic mating pattern may also occur later in the game. There is, for instance, a well-known trap in the Dutch Defence which occurred in 1896 between Frank Melville Teed and Eugene Delmar that runs 1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bf4 g5 4.Bg3 f4; it seems that Black has won the bishop, but now comes 5.e3 (threatening Qh5#, the basic Fool's mate idea) 5...h5 6.Bd3?! 4(6.Be2 is probably better, but this move sets a trap) 6...Rh6? (defending against Bg6#, but...) 7.Qxh5+! Rxh5 8.Bg6#.

More generally, the term "fool's mate" is applied to all similar mates early in the game; for example, 1.e4 g5 2.d4 f6 3.Qh5# - the pattern of the simplest fool's mate is maintained: a player advances his f- and g-pawns, allowing a queen mate along the unblocked diagonal. One such fool's mate is widely reported to have occurred in a possibly apocryphal 1959 game between Masefield (or Mayfield, depending on the source consulted) and Trinka (or Trinks or Trent) which lasted just three moves: 1.e4 g5 2.Nc3 f5 3.Qh5# (variants on these moves also exist). [cite book | author=Mike Fox and Richard James | title=The Even More Complete Chess Addict | publisher=Faber and Faber | year=1993 | pages=p. 177] [cite book | author=Winter, Edward | authorlink=Edward G. Winter | title=Chess Facts and Fables | publisher=McFarland & Co. | year=2005 | id=ISBN 978-0786423101 | pages=pp. 253–254] [cite web | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter25.html#4491._Rousseau_and_chess_C.N.s_4401_ | title=Chess Notes 4493. Short game | author=Edward G. Winter | month=August | year=2006] [cite web | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter25.html#4503._N_for_knight | title=Chess Notes 4506. Short game (C.N. 4493) | author=Edward G. Winter | month=August | year=2006]

Even more generally, the term "Fool's mate" is used in chess variants for the shortest possible mate, especially those which bear a resemblance to the orthodox chess fool's mate. Fool's mate in progressive chess, for example, is 1.e4 2.f6 g5 3.Qh5#.

ee also

*Checkmate
*Scholar's mate

References