We love the fact that you decided to come here:
The Scholars mate is the ultimate sign of showing your dominance to a new player, making them think that you’re an incredible chess player. Since you’re here, we already know that you want to learn how to do it, step by step.
How it’s done
Is the Scholars mate good for beginners?
Yes, scholars mate is very good for beginners, while facing other beginners. If you play against someone who’s played more than 10 proper games of chess, they are not as likely to fall for this move.
What is the point of the Scholars mate?
The point of the scholars mate is to take advantage of the lack of knowledge your opponent has. By them trying to duplicate your moves puts them in a very bad position, which allows you to win the game within 4 moves.
Opening move
To attempt the Scholars mate, you need to make this move (E4)
With this move, you open up for your (white) bishop and your queen. This is crucial, considering it’s the white Bishop and the Queen who’s going to win you the game.
Scholars mate – Black response
The most popular response for new players in this position is to face the white pawn up front, by going E5.
Second move
By moving the Bishop in to C4, we can see that the bishop is putting pressure to the black’s weak F7 square.
Black #2
For beginners it’s also very common to just think about development of some pieces.
“If you move one of the real pieces then I also want to move one” – A friend of mine
White #3
Here you have 2 choices, either you can move your Queen to F3 or H5.
If Black doesn’t deal with this properly, then you’re one move away from completing the Scholars mate!
Black #3
This is a crucial move for player Black. They have to protect the F7 pawn or else they have lost the game.
A new player will probably think something in the lines of:
“My Knight can capture the White Queen in just 2 moves, let’s try that”
Scholars mate – Checkmate
Since player Black did not defend the precious F7 square, White is able to do a check mate by capturing the F7 pawn with the Queen.
The black king is in check and has no way out of the check. The White squared bishop is protecting the Queen, and the Queen is doing a killer check move.
Game over.
Defend scholars mate
Even though 1 mistake from this stage means game over, it is very easy for black to deny the scholars mate at this stage.
All black has to do is protect the F7 square, and in this position, black is expected to win.
Do you want to try this one out on one of your friends? Go ahead! But if you don’t have anyone to play with, then sign up on Chess.com to play chess for free online.
