You've just played the most brilliant game of chess you've ever played, and after several hours of concentrated thought you have reached the position at left. You have a king and a queen against your opponent's lone king. Would you know how to finish him off? Or would all your effort go for nothing as you floundered around the board chasing hopelessly after the enemy king? Clearly you need to know a few basic checkmates. There are four basic checkmates that every chess player needs to learn eventually: king and queen vs. king, king and rook vs. king, king and two bishops vs. king, and king and bishop and knight vs. king. I'll cover the first two of these only in these lessons.

In all of these basic checkmates, the enemy king must be forced to the edge of the board, and if you have only minor pieces at your disposal (i.e., two bishops or bishop and knight) then the enemy king must also be forced into the corner. The king and queen vs. king checkmate is the easiest, so let's begin with the position above. The correct procedure is one of progressively confining the enemy king to smaller and smaller sectors of the board using the combined actions of your king and queen.

1. Qb5 Ke6 The other fellow, of course, tries to avoid being confined and at all costs tries to stay away from the edge of the board. 2. Kf4 Kd6 3. Ke4 Ke6 4. Qc6+ The only thing you really have to be careful about at this point is accidently giving away your queen. I've seen even experienced players do it when they had only a few seconds left on the clock and were in a time scramble to get the enemy king checkmated! 4...Ke7 5. Kf5 Kf7 6. Qd7+ Kg8 7. Kg6 Kh8 Now white has a choice of five moves that administer mate. When the enemy king is finally backed into the corner is when you have to be the most careful. Now there is a danger of stalemate. If white were to play 8. Qf7?? here, the game would be drawn. 8. Qd8++ Also perfectly fine would be 8. Qg7++ or 8. Qh7++. I'll leave the other two up to you to find.

In this position, the queen has been replaced by the less powerful rook. This is going to be a bit more difficult, but only a bit. The basic procedure is the same: confine the enemy king to smaller and smaller sections of the board using the combined force of the king and rook. In this case, the king and rook need to work more closely with each other. The enemy king could not approach and intimidate your queen, because the queen radiates force in all directions. The enemy king can harass your rook, however, and your king must be there to give the rook support. You need to be somewhat efficient in bringing the game to a close at this point, because you have only fifty moves to do it. Remember, if a pawn is not moved or a piece is not captured for fifty moves, your opponent can declare the game drawn.

1. Rb5 Kc6 The enemy king starts pestering the rook right away. 2. Re5 Kd6 3. Kf4 White has moved the rook to a square where it can be supported by the king. Now the black king must step away. 3...Kc6 4. Ke4 The king must be brought over to support further action by the rook. Notice that 4. Re6+ would be a terrible move, because it allows the black king to escape towards the middle of the board by 4...Kc5. The black king isn't giving up without a fight, however. He tries to stay in contact with the white rook to make white's job as difficult as possible. 4...Kd6 5. Kd4 Kd7 Black sees the hopelessness in 5...Kc6 6. Rd5 and tries to make the player of the white pieces think a bit. 6. Kc5 Excellent! Since the black king has stepped away from the white rook momentarily, the white king takes the opportunity to confine the enemy monarch as much as possible. Notce that white has built a fence almost all the way around the black king. Black would have to run all the way to the a-file to escape, and by the time he got there white would be on top of him. 6...Kc7 7. Re7+ The black king will now be forced to move to the edge of the board, which is where white needs him to be. 7...Kd8 The black king continues to pester the rook, making it necessary for white to play carefully. 8. Kd6 The white king steps up to support his rook. 8...Kc8 9. Rf7 A finesse. The black king is on the edge of the board. It won't be long before he is forced to step onto a square where he can be checkmated. This is the hard part. The danger of stalemate is reduced when a king is working with a rook instead of a queen, but it is not eliminated. On the other hand, you'll find that the white rook and black king cannot be in contact when the mate is delivered. Unlike the queen, the rook must deliver mate from a distance. The job of the white rook here is to keep the black king on the edge of the board until white can move his king into position. 9...Kb8 If black moved 9...Kd8 10. Rf8++ would finish him off. This is the basic mating position when the king and rook are working together. Burn it into your brain! 10. Kc6 Forcing the black king to run further into the corner, because if 10...Kc8 11. Rf8++ again finishes the job. 10...Ka8 11. Kb6 Kb8 12. Rf8++ Finally, the black king had no choice but to step onto a fatal square. Once again, take note of the mating position. The enemy king is on the edge of the board, the offensive king is directly facing him one square away, which keeps the enemy king from escaping off the edge of the board, and the rook delivers the final blow.

You need to practice these two mates. Believe me, when the situation arises in one of your games, and it will, you'll wish you had!

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