Thursday, November 3, 2011

Checkmate: Five Quick Fool's Mates for White

Checkmates! We love them. Fool's Mate is a type of checkmate early in the game where the losing king is trapped on its original square. The mate comes on the diagonal from h4-e1 or h5-e8. Here are five quick wins I had over the years.

My Checkmate Tactics book has the best 500 opening mates.
My Combination Tactics book has the best 500 ways to win material.

 My opponent told me that he had a plan, but he never got a chance to carry it out. He intended to put all his pawns on the dark squares. The next game, he went for the light squares, but that game was not a Fool's Mate.
Sawyer-dragonmaster555552000 begins 1.Nc3 h6 2.e4 g5 3.d4 f6
4.Qh5# 1-0

Black sacrifices a pawn. White sacrifices a bishop.
Sawyer-dede begins 1.d4 g5 2.Bxg5 f6 3.e4 fxg5
4.Qh5# 1-0

In this line as Black, I prefer 2...e5 or 2...d5.
Sawyer-luisongo2345 begins 1.d4 Nc6 2.e4 g5 3.Bxg5 f5
4.Qh5# 1-0

A very fast win for a Symmetrical Bird's Opening.
Sawyer-dincogan begins 1.f4 f5 2.e4 g6 3.exf5 gxf5
4.Qh5# 1-0

Black does best to accept the Staunton Gambit with 2...dxe4.
Sawyer-northchess3 begins 1.d4 f5 2.e4 g6 3.exf5 gxf5
4.Qh5# 1-0



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2 comments:

  1. Ian SimpsonApril 17, 2013 at 12:15 PM

    My favourite (which I actually had in a casual game) was 1.e4 g5 2.d4 (attacking the g5-pawn) 2...f6 (defending the pawn, but overlooking...) 3.Qh5#.

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    1. Tim SawyerApril 20, 2013 at 9:47 AM

      Yes, a very natural way to play a cautious but terrible move. I suppose a more aggressive approach would be 2...f5?

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