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How to Checkmate in 3 Moves in Chess

Co-authored by wikiHow Staf | Reader-Approved

Updated: April 24, 2019

Explore this ArticleGetting Checkmate in Three Moves while Capturing Getting Checkmate in Three
Moves Without CapturingArticle SummaryQuestions & AnswersRelated ArticlesReferences

This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for
accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work
from our editorial staf to ensure that each article meets our high standards.

wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article
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You know the 2-move checkmate, or Fool's Mate, and you know the 4-move checkmate, or Scholar's
Mate, but do you know the 3-move checkmate? Grab a friend, play white, and your next game of
chess will take longer to set up than to play. You can achieve checkmate in three moves with
capturing, or without capturing. For either of these methods to work requires some pretty bad play
from your opponent, but maybe you can catch her cold at the start.

EditSteps

Method 1

EditGetting Checkmate in Three Moves while Capturing

1

Move your King Pawn forward to e4. In both of these methods the key piece for you is your Queen.
The Queen is the piece that you are going to use to achieve the checkmate, so your first move should
be to open up space for the Queen to move diagonally. Moving the King Pawn forward two spaces to
square e4 achieves this (e4).

If you're unfamiliar with algebraic chess notation, check out the wikiHow article to brush up.

As well as freeing your queen, you need your opponent to expose their king. If black then moves their
bishop pawn 2 spaces to f5 to tempt white, the checkmate in three moves is on!

Capture your opponent's Pawn at f5. Now use your Pawn to capture your opponent's advanced Pawn
by attacking on the diagonal. Notated, that's e4xf5. Here you are trying to encourage your opponent
to move their Knight Pawn forward two spaces to g5, so it is alongside your Pawn.

This isn't a smart move from your opponent, but maybe you can lull her into it.

The idea of this move is to make sure nothing can block of your route to your opponent's King after
you make your next move.

Move your White Queen to h5 (Qh5). Checkmate! Now you can move your Queen on the diagonal to
h5 and you have your opponents King pinned. That's game over! You'll notice that if your opponent
hadn't moved their Pawn forward two in their last turn they could have blocked of your Queen by
putting a pawn in her way by g6.
You really need your opponent to play into your hands to pull of this three-move checkmate.

Call out checkmate! Now you can take the King with your Queen on the diagonal and celebrate a very
swift victory. If your opponent has fallen into the trap they will likely be a bit annoyed, so don't gloat
too much!

Method 2

EditGetting Checkmate in Three Moves Without Capturing

Move your King Pawn to d3. This is a very similar method to the previous one. You are basically
aiming to get your opponent's Bishop and Knight Pawns forward one and two squares respectively,
while freeing your Queen to enable it to move onto h5. The end result is the same as the previous
method.[1]

You are trying to tempt your opponent to move her Bishop and Knight Pawns.

You need you opponent to respond by bringing out her Bishop Pawn one square to f6.

It can also work if she moves her Knight Pawn forward two squares on this turn, as long as she moves
the Bishop Pawn on her next move.

Move your Queen Pawn forward to e4. The next move for you to make has to free up your Queen so
it can get into a checkmate position on the next move. To do this, move the White King Pawn ahead
two squares to e4. Now you have opened up an avenue for your Queen to reach h5.[2]

In order to clear the way to your opponent's King you need her to move her Knight Pawn ahead two
spaces to g5.

Move the White Queen to h5 (Qh5). Checkmate! And that's it, you have trapped your opponent's
King in the same position as the previous method, but this time you did it without even capturing a
single piece. Game. Set. Match. Over.

Again, this looks simple and it is. So don't expect it to work very often!

In theory, there are loads of variations on this. The key moves are getting your Queen to h5, and your
opponent's Bishop and Knight Pawns out of the way of her King.
Community Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Question

Can my opponent castle to get out of checkmate when my queen is on Qh5?

Community Answer

No, there are pieces in the way! It is also illegal to castle out of check.

Thanks!

YesNo

Not Helpful 39 Helpful 138

Question

What should I do if it doesn't work?

Community Answer

You can play another opening. It won't always work and it usually only works with players that are
absolute beginners in the game.

Thanks!

YesNo

Not Helpful 52 Helpful 162

Question

When can my king swap with my rook?

Community Answer

Here are the conditions: when your bishop and knight are not in between your rook and king, your
king and rook have not moved yet, there are no pieces attacking the space between your rook and
king, and when doing so will not result in check.

Thanks!

YesNo

Not Helpful 37 Helpful 92

Question

What can I do if the opposite player doesn't move as I wish?

Community Answer
If the opponent doesn't make the moves that allow you to checkmate him/her in three moves, play
another opening. It won't always work and it usually only works with players who are absolute
beginners in the game.

Thanks!

YesNo

Not Helpful 52 Helpful 104

Question

Can we revive pieces?

Community Answer

Some people adopt rules allowing players to recover captured pieces, but normally you can revive a
captured piece only by promoting a pawn.

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YesNo

Not Helpful 30 Helpful 60

Question

What is a checkmate?

Community Answer

You achieve checkmate (and win the game) by placing your opponent's king in check in such a way
that the opponent cannot escape check in his/her next move.

Thanks!

YesNo

Not Helpful 34 Helpful 65

Question

How do I move the king?

Community Answer

You can move your king in any direction, just like the queen, but only one square at a time. Be careful
where you move your king, however; the game is over if your opponent takes your king.

Thanks!

YesNo

Not Helpful 50 Helpful 89

Question

How should I position the king?

Community Answer
For defensive purposes, the king is often "castled," which is explained in How to Castle in Chess.

Thanks!

YesNo

Not Helpful 25 Helpful 48

Question

Isn't there a mistake here? The first method has the king and queen on diferent squares to the
second method.

Donagan

Top Answerer

All the drawings above are correct. The king (with the cross on top) starts on a square of the opposite
color. The queen starts on the matching-color square.

Thanks!

YesNo

Not Helpful 28 Helpful 43

Question

What can I do if my opponent is white?

Community Answer

Who plays white and black doesn't matter. The most important thing in chess is a clear strategy, not
the color.

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Other

EditWarnings

For this to work, you need an opponent who is either very cooperative, or perhaps not quite awake.

Be wary of trying this in a more serious game, as it not likely to come of. If they don't play right into
your hand, the 3-move checkmate won't work.

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EditReferences

↑ http://www.chesscorner.com/tutorial/basic/scholars/scholars.htm
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Article Info

This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for
accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work
from our editorial staf to ensure that each article meets our high standards.

Categories: Chess

In other languages:

Español: hacer jaque mate en 3 movimientos en ajedrez, Italiano: Dare Scaccomatto in 3

Mosse, Deutsch: Jemanden in drei Zügen Schachmatt setzen, Русский: поставить шах и мат в
шахматах за три хода, Português: Dar um Xeque-mate em 3 Movimentos no Xadrez, Français: faire
échec et mat en trois coups, Nederlands: Iemand schaakmat zetten in drie stappen, Bahasa
Indonesia: Membuat Skak Mat dalam 3 Langkah, 한국어: 3 수 안에 체크메이트 만드는 법, ‫ ا‬:‫العربية‬
‫لوصولا إلى كش ملك خللا ثلثا حركات بالشطرنج‬

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Article SummaryX

To checkmate in 3 moves in chess, start by moving your Queen Pawn to d3. Then, move your King
Pawn forward to e4, which will free up your Queen. Finally, move your Queen on the diagonal to h5,
where you will have your opponent’s King checkmated without having captured a single piece. To
learn how to checkmate in 3 moves while capturing your opponent’s pieces, scroll down!