Scholar's mate is the best-known quick mate, and the one beginners walk into. White develops the bishop to c4 and the queen to h5 (or f3), aiming at Black's weakest square - f7, which at the start of the game is defended only by the king. If Black misses the threat, Qxf7 mate arrives as early as move four.
On the board the queen stands on f7 and delivers mate: she is defended by the bishop on c4, so the king cannot take her, and there are no other escape squares. The position arises after 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qh5 Nf6?? 4.Qxf7 mate - a classic trap that is easy to fall into through carelessness.
Defending is simple: against 3.Qh5 it is enough to play ...g6, chasing the queen away, or to cover f7 in advance. The main lesson of Scholar's mate is to develop your pieces in the opening, keep an eye on f7 and f2, and watch for early queen sorties.
This page is a handy place to go over the set-up on the board and work through it square by square. An overview of all the named mates is collected in a separate article.
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It is the mating side to move. Find mate in one.
Openings, endgame positions and breakthrough studies - the set-up appears on the board.
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