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:
“In this distribution of functions, the scholar is the delegated intellect. In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men’s thinking.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“O past! O happy life! O songs of joy!
In the air, in the woods, over fields,
Loved! loved! loved! loved! loved!
But my mate no more, no more with me!
We two together no more.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)