How to checkmate in two moves

Use these two simple moves to become lord of the board

Ironically, chess is anything but black and white. A centuries-old game of strategy and scheming, the number of plays and tactics number in the millions, and are employed by everyone from casual Sunday afternoon players to ten-hour tournament-winning Grandmasters.

A gentleman is proficient in all board games – from Backgammon to Battleships – but chess is perhaps the most important of all. So how can you chess to impress? How can you become lord of the board? How can you checkmate in just two moves?

The ‘two-move checkmate’ is also known by the telling moniker ‘Fool’s Mate’ – a name that suggests the only way you can beat your opponent in such a way is by ensuring that they are a fool.

A prime example of this tactic in play would be White moving their first pawn to F3, you moving your first Black pawn to E5, and then White reciprocating by moving another pawn to G4.

Then you deliver your fatal move by sliding your Queen to H4, thereby blocking in White’s King and automatically winning the game.

There are slight variations on this move, but all are very unlikely to ever happen organically in a game. White would have to display almost no aptitude for chess or, at very least, an extraordinary weakness.

But, if you ever find yourself playing someone who doesn’t know their Knights from their Bishops, it might be time to capitalise and school the fool with the ‘two-move checkmate’.

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