Mating with a King and a Queen

[chessgirl]

The Queen may be the most powerful piece in chess, but it cannot by itself mate the opposing King. In order to deliver the checkmate, the attacking King and Queen must work together. The following diagrams show the most common mating patterns with a King and a Queen against a lone King.



[/IMG]In both of these mates, the white Queen attacks the black King at the closest possible range and, at the same time, controls every possible black retreat. Note also that, in both of the above checkmates, the white King plays an absolutely essential role in defending the queen.

The following diagrams show two other fairly common mating patterns with a King and a Queen against a lone King:



In both of these two checkmates, the Queen attacks the lone King as well as the entire rank upon which the King rests. Note also that the white King again plays an essential role. In the first of these mates, the white King controls three of the squares to which the black King might otherwise retreat. In the second mate, the King and Queen share that responsibility. In addition to these mating patterns, you should also pay attention to the following two stalemates. As you may already know, a stalemate is a relatively rare situation in which the side to move, black in the following two examples, has no legal move. In some games, the inability to move would result in a pass. In chess, however, you may not pass. The inability to move, a stalemate, is counted as a draw.