Chess Endgames - Basic Mates

Basic Mates
Finish the Game Cleanly

Basic Mates

A won position is not enough if the final mate takes too long or ends in stalemate. These four mates against a bare king are the ones to know by heart: king and queen, king and rook, two rooks, and the rare bishop and knight.

King and Queen vs King

Verdict White wins.

Goal

Drive the king to the edge with the queen, bring the king up and mate on the edge, without giving stalemate.

Idea

The red squares show where the black king cannot go. The queen keeps a knight's move away from the king, so it cuts the king off and cannot be taken, and the squares left to the king shrink with every move.

Technique

  1. Keep the queen a knight's move away from the king: ♕e7 against a king on d5.
  2. Bring the king up while the queen holds the cage: ♔d2, ♔c3, ♔c4.
  3. Shrink the cage with quiet queen moves: ♕d7.
  4. Mate on the edge with the king protecting the queen: ♕b5#.
  5. Before every move, check that the black king still has a legal move.

1. ♕e7 ♚c6 2. ♔d2 ♚b6 3. ♔c3 ♚c6 4. ♔c4 ♚b6 5. ♕d7 ♚a6 6. ♔c5 ♚a5 7. ♕b5#

Typical mistake

Stalemate. In the exercise position, 1. ♔d3?? leaves Black without a legal move, and the game is drawn.

Exercise

White to move. Mate in one.

Solution

White mates with ♕d2#. Careful: 1. ♔d3??, 1. ♔b3?? and 1. ♔b2?? are all stalemate.

1. ♕d2#

The king on c3 protects the queen on d2, and the black king has no escape square.

Practice

Copy the position into any board or engine to practice it:


8/8/8/3k4/8/Q7/8/2K5 w - - 0 1

King and Rook vs King

Verdict White wins.

Goal

Use the king to shrink the box and the rook to mate on the edge, with the kings facing each other.

Idea

The rook cuts the king off along a file, and the king walks up beside it. Every time the rook takes away a file or rank, the king moves up to hold it. The red squares show the squares the black king is denied.

Technique

  1. Cut the king off with the rook along a file: ♖d2, then ♖c2.
  2. Walk the king up beside the rook: ♔c4, ♔b4.
  3. Keep taking away squares with the king: ♔c5, ♔b5, ♔c6.
  4. At the edge, put the kings in opposition and mate with the rook: ♔c7, ♖a2#.

1. ♖d2 ♚b5 2. ♖c2 ♚a5 3. ♔c4 ♚b6 4. ♔b4 ♚a6 5. ♔c5 ♚b7 6. ♔b5 ♚a7 7. ♔c6 ♚a8 8. ♔c7 ♚a7 9. ♖a2#

Typical mistake

Leaving the rook next to the king without protection. In the exercise position, 1. ♖a3+?? 1... ♚xa3 and the rook is lost.

Exercise

White to move. Mate in two.

Solution

White mates in two, and the first move is a king move.

1. ♔c5 ♚a5 2. ♖a3#

♔c5 takes away the squares next to the black king, and after ... ♚a5 the rook mates with ♖a3#.

Practice

Copy the position into any board or engine to practice it:


8/8/8/2k5/8/1K6/4R3/8 w - - 0 1

Two Rooks vs King

Verdict White wins.

Goal

Push the king to the edge with the ladder: one rook checks along a rank while the other cuts off the next rank.

Idea

The rooks climb the board like a ladder, one rank at a time. The king cannot cross the rank held by one rook, and the other rook gives the next check. The two rooks stay far from the king, so it cannot attack them.

Technique

  1. Check with one rook: ♖c5+. The king must step back.
  2. Put the other rook on the next rank with check: ♖h6+.
  3. Repeat, one rank higher each time: ♖c7+, ♖h7.
  4. When the king is on the edge, the last rook mates: ♖a8#.
  5. Keep the rooks on different ranks and away from the king.

1. ♖c5+ ♚e6 2. ♖h6+ ♚d7 3. ♖a6 ♚e7 4. ♖c7+ ♚d8 5. ♖h7 ♚e8 6. ♖a8#

Typical mistake

Putting a rook next to the king. In the exercise position, 1. ♖g8+?? 1... ♚xg8 loses a rook.

Exercise

White to move. Mate in two.

Solution

White mates with the ladder: ♖c7 first, then a mate on the back rank.

1. ♖c7 ♚e8 2. ♖g8#

♖c7 cuts off the seventh rank, the king can only go to e8, and ♖g8# mates.

Practice

Copy the position into any board or engine to practice it:


8/2R5/8/5k2/7R/8/8/5K2 w - - 0 1

Bishop and Knight Mate

Verdict White wins, but only in a corner of the bishop's color.

Goal

Drive the king to a corner of the bishop's color, then mate with the bishop, the knight and the king together.

Idea

The bishop is dark-squared, so the mate can only happen in the corners a1 and h8. The black king is already on a1. The bishop holds the long diagonal, and the knight and the king close the other squares.

Technique

  1. Note the color of the bishop: the mate exists only in corners of that color.
  2. If the king is in the wrong corner, drive it along the edge to the right corner. This takes many moves and is the hard part.
  3. In the right corner, keep the king close and use the bishop and the knight to cut off every flight square: ♗f4, ♘d6, ♘c4.
  4. Give the knight check to force the king into the corner: ♘a3+, then mate with ♗d4#.
  5. Count the moves: the fifty move rule applies.

1. ♔b3 ♚b1 2. ♗f4 ♚a1 3. ♘d6 ♚b1 4. ♘c4 ♚a1 5. ♗e3 ♚b1 6. ♘a3+ ♚a1 7. ♗d4#

Typical mistake

Driving the king to the wrong corner. A king in a corner of the other color cannot be mated, so the king has to be pushed along the edge to the right corner.

Exercise

White to move. Mate in four.

Solution

White mates in four. The bishop is light-squared, so the mating corner is h1.

1. ♘e6 ♚h1 2. ♘f4 ♚g1 3. ♘h3+ ♚h1 4. ♗e4#

The knight tightens the net, and the bishop gives the final mate on the long light diagonal.

Practice

Copy the position into any board or engine to practice it:


1B6/1N6/8/8/K7/8/8/k7 w - - 0 1

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