Scholar's Mate (The 4-Move Checkmate)
What is the most common chess game?
The four-move checkmate (also known as scholar's mate) is by far the most common finish to a chess game. Almost all chess players has fallen for or delivered this checkmate at some point in their lives.
But it's nothing to be afraid of! If you know how to defend, White actually ends up out of position.
The four-move checkmate can be reached in a few different ways, but the basic pattern is that White opens by advancing 1.e2-e4, develops the bishop to c4 to attack the f7-pawn, and develops the queen to h5 (or f3). If Black does not defend, White checkmates with 4.Qxf7#
How can Black defend against the four-move checkmate? There are three ways: ...Qe7, ...Qf6, and ...g6 are all reasonable moves that stop White's checkmate threat.
Once Black defends the checkmate, the white queen may find itself a target of attack. Black should try to develop new pieces while making threats to the white queen.
Now that you know how to defend yourself from this trap, why not make a Chess.com account and try a game yourself?
