Learn to Play Chess: The Four-Move Checkmate 

Discover more about the 4 move checkmate -> www.chess.com/article/view/the-4-move-checkmate

"See if you can find it..." Can't find shit "Very good"

only a chess player would take 14 minutes to explain 4 moves

My nephew tried to pull this off against me, I saw it coming as soon as he moved his Bishop to C4, I moved my Knight to H6 and kept playing my normal game. Two moves later he moved his Queen to F7 with the words Checkmate. My response was Knight takes Queen on F7, "Not so much". He then traded his Bishop for my Knight and we kept playing, with him a Queen down.

This move works very well against inexperienced players but you see it once and you never fall for it again (except if you are my classmate who fell for it 2 times in a row or that 1 player that i beat with this on a local chess tournament as a kid but seriously, if you lose to this, you should not be at a tournament)

Just thought I'd mention, as a help for rookies, that the move g6 to kick back the queen is no good if you don't have protection for your e5 pawn. Why not you ask? Well, because Queen then swiftly takes e5 and forks your king and your rook, which you just conveniently opened the path to with the g6 move. So always protect e5 before kicking the queen, or you lose your rook.

id flip the board and run

Its never safe to be a black king apparently

I remember playing chess as a kid and performing this. I thought, back then, that a four move checkmate was the fastest anyone could do, until I actually performed a three move checkmate. It really blew me away.

I pulled this trick off of my little brother and he threw the chess board out the window (Not kidding.)

I love this video!! "Charge!!! Checkmate!!"

This is similar to a game I had last year on chess.com, played a guy in Germany. He used the Philidor defense but did not account for the weak pawn on f7. I felt bad for taking the Mate off a bad blunder but at the time they and I were only 1108 and 1202 respectively. Click show more to see the game. 1. e4, e5 2. Nf3, d6 3. d4, Bg4 4. Bf4, Bxf3 5. Qxf3, Nd1 6. QxF7#

I was a victim of the Scholar's Mate... I didn't even know it was possible so I was in no way prepared for it.

My chess coach makes people sit out a round if they do this

Thank you! I am just beginning to learn chess so I really appreciate your expertise. ☺

This video is verry thoughtfully presented..thank u....

black can ultimately counter this simply by moving the D pawn

thanks mate really useful

Also, after the bishop is at c4 you could move the queen to f3 because that is directly below f7 and black would not be suspicious and is more likely to make a careless move for you to win.

This is a really good video. Especially the dude who's voicing it. Subscribed! :-)

Thanks David, great job explaining!

Great vid. - very infomative .. most chess vids race along at breakneck pace and are very annoying, but everything here is easy to grasp and explained very clearly .. thanks again for this masterclass information.

I'm a beginner to Chess . It gets more interesting every game I play. And your explanation of this tactic only sparked more interest in me. Thank you!

After 1. e4, 1.e5, 2. Qh5, 2. Nf6!? is not so bad. Even though it allows 3. Qe5+, 3. Be7 gives Black a better position even though it loses a pawn. My teacher, a FM, said this is actually better than 2. Nc6, the more naturally accepted move, guarding the pawn.

Good job. Thanks for learning.

I love the idea of how to get a 4 move checkmate, except it only works if he makes those exact moves

Used this to help me win against the computer on Chess Titans versus the AI.. Thanks!

I knew how to bloc kit but I never knew how to do it, great video!

tnx for sharing

great explanation !!!!

thanks for the lesson bro

Great video. Thank you.

Clearly, people on your website need to start watching your videos because the first time I tried this it worked perfectly.

Good class. Thanks.

thank you..thank you.......very much for your help

I really learn your lesson

Great... I Didn't just learn that move but also how to detect if someone is trying to do it to me and how to defend my king in that case... Thanks

Impressive, I wish someone would have taught me the game at that early of an age.

AWESOME THANKS

very helpful video

This is awesome. Thank you! I was a chess fanatic in elementary school (mid-70s). Now my 1st grade son is. (I did this move on him and he was none too happy about it!) He now routinely beats 4th and 5th graders in his school's morning chess club. I used to buy books with the moves of Spasky and Fisher. What is the move called when you can swap the King and Knight provided neither has moved? I showed him this and he's now using it some. Chess is so awesome, thanks again!

thanks dude

I've used a "version " of this many times And it's worked alot of the time. I found a good way to appear im not doing the move when I really am

Well done!!

What if after bishop moves to c4, pawn b7 moves to b5? I have a tournament tomorrow, I might consider using this.

do you think you can make some interactive tutorials and chess puzzles on your site as well

Thanks for reminding me. My cousin explained it but I forgot everything except in French it means "in passing". I think I need to research it again because it has something to do with pawns in the first moves when they move 2 squares, I THINK. My cousin taught his grandson the names of the pieces and how to setup the board at 2 YEARS OLD! I wish I had a video of it. IT WAS VERY IMPRESSIVE! Will is in 1st grade now and knows how to play. I bet he will be great when he is older! Lucky kid! :D

Nice game and opining thanks

very helpful

The black knight can take the white pawn from white in e4, so anyway to get out of that one?

great video!

Thank you

Instad of sending the bishop to b4, wouldnt it be better to send the pawn from b5?

Awesome... Thanks...

Great video..

This scholar's move only works for inexperienced players though but I guess this video can help people who are new to chess though I doubt they'd fall for such an easy move

very helpful video :D

it can be done with black vs white as well. this was my opening move for years,and only today I see it has a name.

I'm not a kid but I am a beginner. I thought your video was good. I wish I'd learned this game when I was a kid. I didn't begin to learn the pieces until I was 40. I've just recently started playing Chess Titans on my computer. Now that I am familiar with the direction a piece can move, I'm ready to learn strategy. People watching shouldn't get the idea you are talking down. You are teaching "beginners" and age doesn't matter. I prefer someone explain things in a simple manner.Thx 4 posting!

I loved it. It helped Me counteract my opponent. HALLELUJAH

Personally I would have done Knight to g6 and guard the pawn so either way if they do the move you can either bait the queen with the knight before the scholars mate or take the queen with the knight during scholars mate.

I have some ways 1. move d7 to d5 so it well block the bishop forcing a retreat(if the white side is smart) 2. move d8 to e7 it will risk your queen but will work so if he takes the pond with the queen you could take queen with queen but the bishop will get you then you could take it out with the king

Tnx broooo

at around 12:35. In stead of the bisshop sacrifice, I thought of knight D5. The queen only has one square to go, A5, after which u place your dark bisshop to B4, trapping the queen. The rook fork works just as well tho

AMAZING!

I'm going to use this to win my chess tournament thank you so much

Best video ever!

Excellent ...

Yep, and we will have videos on how all the pieces move, as well :-)

Why didn't you just let the knight go to a5 and attack the queen + bishop at the same time? Is it so the knight stays centred? Or is there another argument for jumping to d4 from c6?

this was the first opening I ever learned because everybody plays it on chess.com. Mt favorite response when black is I play the sicilian defence and slam my Knight on e5 which forks the bishop and queen and protects f7. I know it's not the best way to prevent it I just think it's a sexy Knight move. and I don't mind trading a knight for a bishop on move 4. I'd rather have 2 bishops than 2 knights.

What about castleing in this formation?

9:49 what about knight to h6? The knight would be defending the pawn from both bishop and queen. Plus, if the queen decide to the knight, she'll be taken by pawn from g7 to h6.

when blocking why not move the pawn on d7 It would also wreck everything

they could move e5 one space forward and it would block the bishop from attacking fz and allows the king to take out the queen

What if the Pawn of F7 moves before the queen gets to its position?

Best channel ever

but an easier way and strong defense to just stop it all is to move your knight to H6, right? It's an automatic defense against the scholar's mate, and most of the time, the opponent doesn't realize it. IF they try to take the pawn, just take the piece that they moved, and if they continue, then you can just take it with your king or whatever piece you have moved close enough to defend since it IS a 4 move checkmate, so you have 3 moves to prepare yourself since 1 move is needed to get the knight out. it's like setting up an ambush for an attack with a lot of openings.

The best move in my experience is to put the kh6. Knight in h6. But then keep an eye on c1 bishop

actually in the first one they can use the castle and king move move the castle twice and switch the king to its right

enjoyed the video mate :D

what if they move the g6 pawn before the queen gets the the correct square then if they they to kill the pawn then the pawn on h7 can then kill the queen

Personally, when I used this I didn't go to h5 with the queen, but to f3. Is this a worse move? Because all the explanations on this have always used h5.

But what if I counter with the Intercontinental ballistic missile gambit?

hi do you have to call check when you're playing chess or is that just a polite thing to do

Awesomeness!!

am a new beginner want to lean how can i do it??

what if instead of protecting the queen by moving to c3. move queen to c4 and still putting pressure on the bishop?

Isn't there a way to counter mate him by making him move the queen four times?

thats true but if you choose that move the chance he will take the pawn from f7 to f6 or the bishop from g8 to f6 is very high. then the plan wont work.

At 11:00 wouldnt you be able to move the horse (cant remember the name now sorry) to A5? It would threaten both Queen and bishop so they wouldn't both be able to flee?

You could also trade a queen for two rooks. 2 rooks are helpful to control whole files and whole ranks.

whats wrong with g7 to g 6 and bugger the queen off...

12:28 would it be knight to d5 i think it was d im thinkin of

Instructive!

For E7 he could use the queen and the bishop to checkmate the king

what happens if the piece G,7 MOVES ONE FORWARD AND BLOCKS THE QUEEN FROM ATTACKING THE KING?

Notice that if you guys are attempting checkmate in 4 moves then it's bad idea cause myself only intermediate at chess can absolutely and easily noticed their simple trick, so if you're facing same level or even you're rookie level then don't do it cause people are learning this move, since it became a lesson for the beginners. Scholar's mate prevention is moving *(f6)* for queen and take advantage upon diagnolly If queen moves *(f3)* before controlling the diagnol then move your knight to *(f6)*

When you asked the best move for 10:30, I thought of Knight to A5... Knight could in turn take either the Queen or Bishop, depending if someone makes a lazy move.

Slightly confused... Either the website placed the king and the queen in the wrong place or my chess board is messed up. Or it's me. Probably me. But my king is on the left instead of the right side. Please help!