How To Win In Chess In 3 Moves
An amazing checkmate can occur in only three moves. Do you know how to make this happen when you are playing with the white pieces?Your most important piece to make a checkmate in three moves is your queen. When Black’s king is exposed by weak pawn moves, you want your queen on the h5-square to deliver a quick checkmate. Do you know how the squares on a chessboard are labeled? If not, learn more in our "How to Play Chess" article.
A three-move checkmate can occur in one of two ways: with capturing one of your opponent’s pawns or without a capture. Let’s see how you can checkmate your opponent in three moves.
Can any of these players be successful in delivering a 3-move checkmate?
Option 1: With Capturing
Because your queen needs to move to the h5-square, your first move is to advance the king pawn two spaces forward to e4. The queen is now able to move diagonally.
If Black moves the bishop pawn to f5 (incidentally, a weak move) to tempt you to capture it, go ahead and capture the pawn by attacking on the diagonal. Your second move is recorded as exf.
The next step needed is for Black to move the knight pawn to g5 (another very weak move). You are now in a position to deliver checkmate on your third move because Black’s king is exposed and your opponent cannot do anything to stop you from checkmating them.
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Is anything more nervous than a king when a 3-move checkmate is imminent?
Your next move is to take advantage of the weakened e8-h5 diagonal. Your queen can move diagonally to h5 because your first move makes that move possible. To win the game, your final move is Qh5. Checkmate! The game is over.
As you can see, your opponent has to play specific pawn moves to make this checkmate possible for you. In chess notation, here are all the moves of this option: 1. e4 f5 2. exf g5 3. Qh5#
Option 2: Without Capturing
This option is very similar to the previous one. It also requires that your queen move diagonally to h5 and that your opponent move the bishop and knight pawns on the kingside to expose their king. With these moves, you can achieve a checkmate in three moves.
Your first two moves involve pawns, usually the queen and king pawns, such as moving d3 and e4. With the e4 move, you open the diagonal for your queen to move to h5.
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Nothing excites a queen as much as delivering a 3-move checkmate.
The first two moves for Black again advance the bishop and knight pawns to expose the king to attack from the h5-square. Specifically, the knight pawn needs to move forward two spaces to f5. If the bishop pawn moves only one space forward to f6, then a capture is not possible as in the first option.
Your third move again is Qh5. Checkmate! Your opponent’s king has been trapped much like in the first option, and your opponent cannot do anything to stop you from checkmating them. In chess notation, here is how this option can occur: 1. d3 f6 2. e4 g5 3. Qh5#
How To Defend Against 3-Move Checkmate
This checkmate is very simple, isn’t it? Because it’s so simple, it’s easy to defend against. When you are Black, be careful when you move your bishop and knight pawns on the kingside. Avoid g5 if this move exposes your king to immediate attack. Look instead for another move.
Never be in a position where you lose a game in three moves. Always make sure that you protect the safety of your king.
Because an opponent has to make poor choices, don't expect to see a 3-move checkmate in a tournament with experienced players.
Conclusion
Don’t expect to obtain a three-move checkmate very often because it depends on Black making the disastrous move of g5. (Many quick checkmate patterns, such as Fool's Mate, require an opponent to make serious mistakes.) Although you can easily open the diagonal for your queen to move to the h-file, very infrequently will an opponent move the bishop and knight pawns as required to expose their king to checkmate in one.
As you can tell from the explanations above, you can be successful in three-move checkmate only if your opponent helps to make it happen by making poor choices at the start of a game by moving pawns to expose their king. Don’t expect to be successful with a swift victory in a serious game or with a player who is not a beginner.