Q&A for How to Checkmate in 3 Moves in Chess

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

It is a checkmate made by white in four moves that is common among beginners.

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.

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

Your opponent might sacrifice a pawn if s/he thought it would lead to the capture of one of your more valuable pieces.

No, there isn't. The way these fast checkmates work is by moving through the kingside white square diagonal (comprising squares h5, g6, f7, and e8). In order to free up this diagonal, two pawn moves must occur.

You prepare yourself for a longer and more interesting game.

Yes. White is on e1, black is on e8.

I would restart the game and try again.

To get a second queen, you have to move your pawn to the other side of the board.

It's possible for black. The white moves a pawn to f3, then you move the black pawn to e5 square. White moves his pawn to g4. This leads to fools mate, but black can move his bishop to e7 square. When the white does not protect the h5 square or block the bishop's way, then black can get checkmate using his bishop.

No.

No, a fool's mate only needs two moves. But the fool's mate can be easily deflected.

No, one king cannot capture the other. This is because neither king can get close enough to capture the other without putting himself in check (which is not a legal move). If each player is reduced to his or her king, the game ends immediately in a "stalemate," which is a tie or "draw."

There is no standard opening move for either color. White moves first, and black's response is chosen based on white's move.

No, you cannot. The rules specifically state you can't castle out of check.

Yes, it's possible to win in two moves with the Fool's Mate. You cannot win in 1 move, however, because the pawns need to be moved forward in order to move your stronger pieces.

To be specific, no. And, to pull off a three-move checkmate, you still need your opponent to do what you wish.

Then you use another opening. Chess is about reacting. You can go in with a strategy, but you will often have to evaluate your opponent's moves and readjust your strategy accordingly.

No, neither player can capture the opponent's king at the beginning of a game in one move.

It really depends on the skill level of both players, the 3 move checkmate won't work as well on more experienced players. Try using different formations or tactics to exploit the position of the opponent's king.

Check is when one or more of your pieces can capture your opponent's king if he does not move to a space where none of your pieces can attack him within his next move. Your first move should be to move the pawn in front of your king two spaces forward to free up space to allow your queen to go to the center of the board.

Yes. Just being in check does not mean the king can't move, but the move must get the king out of check.