Scholar's Mate
Your queen and bishop both aim at f7. If Black brings the wrong knight out, the queen takes the pawn with checkmate.
6%of players rated around 800 bring the knight out here
Your opponent's Chess.com rating
Playing Black against it? Defend against it
Good to know
- Opening
- King's Pawn Game
- You play
- White
- The trap is set on
- Move 3
- What you win
- Checkmate on move four
- If they do not bite
- Your queen has to retreat
- Games counted
- 17 million on Lichess
How to defend against the Scholar's Mate
Push your g pawn at the queen. 66% of players rated around 800 find it. The pawn attacks the queen and shuts her out of f7.
A level game, your king safe.
The way out, move by move, as BlackScholar's Mate moves
1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7#
- 1.e4Push your king's pawn
The usual first move. It opens the way for your queen and bishop.
- 1…e5Black pushes the king's pawn too
Black meets you in the centre.
- 2.Qh5Bring your queen out to h5
The queen attacks the pawn on e5 and looks at f7, the pawn beside Black's king.
- 2…Nc6Black's knight defends the pawn
This is the usual reply. The pawn on e5 is safe now.
- 3.Bc4Bring your bishop out to c4
Queen and bishop both hit f7. You want Black to bring the other knight out.
- 3…Nf6Black brings the other knight out
6% of players rated around 800 attack your queen like this. They miss the threat.
- 4.Qxf7#Take the pawn on f7 with your queen
Checkmate. The bishop guards the queen, so the king cannot take her.
Checkmate.
See it one move at a timeScholar's Mate questions
What if they do not fall for the Scholar's Mate?
94% of players rated around 800 play something else. Then your queen has to retreat.
How do you defend against the Scholar's Mate?
As Black, push your g pawn at the queen. 66% of players rated around 800 find it. The pawn attacks the queen and shuts her out of f7. A level game, your king safe.
What do you win with the Scholar's Mate?
Checkmate on move four. In the main line, checkmate.
At what rating does the Scholar's Mate work?
It works best against players under 400, where 11% bring the knight out. Against players at 2100 and up, 2% do.
More traps
All opening trapsCounted from the rated blitz, rapid and classical games on Lichess that reached this position. Ratings are shown as Chess.com ratings: the games are grouped by Lichess rating, which runs higher, and each group is named by the Chess.com rating it comes to in ChessGoals' comparison of players with an account on both. A rating with fewer than 300 such games shows no number.