In chess, Scholar's Mate is the checkmate achieved by the moves:
- 1. e4 e5
- 2. Qh5 Nc6
- 3. Bc4 Nf6?
- 4. Qxf7#
The moves might be played in a different order or in slight variation, but the basic idea is the same—the queen and bishop combine in a simple mating attack on f7 (or f2 if Black is performing the mate).
Scholar's Mate is sometimes referred to as the "four-move checkmate", although there are other ways to checkmate in four moves.
Read more about Scholar's Mate: Avoiding Scholar's Mate, Openings, Name in Other Languages
Famous quotes containing the words scholar and/or mate:
“I have looked warily at anthropologists ever since the day when I went to hear a great Greek scholar lecture on the Iliad, and listened for an hour to talk about bull-roarers and leopard-societies.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)
“A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea,
If they think they ha’ slain our Goodly Fere
They are fools eternally.
I ha’ seen him eat o’ the honey-comb
Sin’ they nailed him to the tree.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)