(Blind swine mate)

Checkmating with a King and Queen

Photo Credit: All diagrams Ed Scimia

Updated October 24, 2015.

The king and queen vs. king checkmate is one of the most basic endgames in chess.
Knowledge of this and other "overkill" endgames is crucial to improving your chess.
After all, it isn't enough to gain a winning position -- you need to be able to checkmate
your opponent's king.

From the position above, White's first step should be to limit the Black king's area of
movement. The queen is ideal at sealing the king into a small area.
White can begin to limit Black's king by playing 1. Qe5.
2 of 10

Limit the King's Mobility

Black to move after 1. Qe5.

Black's king is now boxed in, and will never advance to (or beyond) the marked squares
in the diagram.

This illustrates an important point: it is not always best to check the enemy king. It is
often best to instead trap the king and limit its movement. Remember that checkmate is
the goal, not simply random checks.
Black must make a king move; 1. ... Kd7 is as good as any. How can White continue to
make progress towards limiting Black's king?
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Further Limit the Enemy King

Black to move after 2. Qf6.

With 2. Qf6, White continues to limit the Black king's movements.

White's next few moves will continue to follow this same strategy. Black will attempt to
stay away from the edges of the board for as long as possible with moves such as 2. ...
Kc7. The chase might continue with 3. Qe6 Kb7 4. Qd6, after which Black must give up
ground.
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Push the King to an Edge

Black to move after 4. Qd6.

Black's king will now have to move to either the a-file or the 8th rank. In either case,
White has accomplished a major goal by driving the Black king to the edge of the board.
For our example, Black will play 4. ... Kc8.
5 of 10

Place the Queen on the Second Line

Black to move after 5. Qe7.

Once the enemy king has been pushed to an edge, it's important to make sure he stays
there. We accomplish this by placing our queen on the "second line" - the rank or file
next to the one on which the enemy king is trapped.
For instance, in this example, the Black king has been forced to the 8th rank. On order
to ensure the king stays put, White correctly moves his queen to the 7th rank by
playing 5. Qe7.
Black's king is now reduced to shuffling between c8, b8 and a8.
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Use the King

Black to move after 7. Kc5.

The queen cannot checkmate an enemy king by herself. Instead, the king and queen
must work together to finish the game.
At this point, there's no need for White to move the queen again until he's ready to
checkmate the Black king. Instead, he can bring his king closer to the action while Black
is reduced to moving his king back and forth with moves like 5. ... Kb8 6. Kc4 Kc8 7.
Kc5, which brings us to the position diagrammed above.
Black's only legal move is 7. ... Kb8.
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Preparing the Checkmate

A mate in one for White.

Before executing the checkmate, the stronger side should move their king to the third
line -- that is, two ranks or files away from the enemy king -- as near the enemy king as
possible. When checkmating with a king and queen, having the kings directly opposing
each other or separated by a "knight's move" will work.
In the diagram above, white has accomplished this after 8. Kb6 Kc8. White now has a
checkmate in one move, which you should spot before continuing to the next page.
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Checkmate

Checkmate after 9. Qc7#.

White wins the game by playing 9. Qc7#.

As simple as this endgame may appear, there are a couple traps you should watch out
for. Two stalemate possibilities exist, which can turn a certain win into a draw.
9 of 10

A Stalemate Threat