Week 3: Back-rank checkmate
Beginner course · lesson plan for a 60-minute live group class · for the coach
Lesson plan · Worksheet · Answer key · 12-week syllabus
Learning objective
Students can spot a king trapped behind its own pawns, give back-rank checkmate with a rook or queen, and know how to protect their own king (a free square, or a guard on the back row).
Before class (under 10 minutes)
Prerequisites: Weeks 1–2: moves, captures, check and checkmate.
- Open "Week 3 demonstration".
- Have "Week 3 practice" ready in the Puzzles list.
Class plan, minute by minute
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Warm-up Quick question: “What is checkmate?” Then one promotion puzzle on the shared board. |
| 5–20 min | Shared board: the back rank Load "Week 3 demonstration": the mate, then why it fails when the king has a free square (h6 played), then the danger to your own king. |
| 20–35 min | Puzzles on their own boards Puzzles → "Week 3 practice": six back-rank mates for White and Black. Mixed-level group: "Week 3 all levels" (ends with mates in 2). |
| 35–52 min | Play each other Pair students and start. Challenge: before every move, check your own back row. |
| 52–60 min | Review Review questions below. Preview next week: more checkmate patterns. |
Shared-board demonstration
In the lesson app: Lesson library → Week 3 demonstration: Back-rank checkmate.
White to move: checkmate in 1.
The pawns on f7, g7 and h7 block the king’s escape. The rook attacks the whole back row.
Answer: Rd8#. The black king is trapped behind its own pawns.
Here Rd8+ is only check: the king escapes to h7.
Black played h6 earlier. That free square (“luft”) saves the king. Play Rd8+ Kh7 to show it.
White’s own king is in danger too: for example, if the rook goes to d2, Black plays Re1 checkmate.
Move the rook to d2 and let a student find ...Re1#. Then undo and show h3 to make a free square.
Puzzles on every student’s own board
In class: Puzzles → choose the set → Start puzzles. Each student solves on their own board while you watch every board live. A wrong move gets a reason or a hint (for example “look for a check”), and any checkmate counts as solved.
- Everyone: Week 3 practice: Back-rank checkmate (6 puzzles, including real-game puzzles from Lichess). The worksheet uses the same puzzles.
- Mixed-level group: Week 3 all levels: Back-rank checkmate (15 puzzles): the 4 easier ones first, then the practice set, then 5 harder ones, including real-game puzzles from Lichess. Each student goes at their own pace, so beginners stay with the easier puzzles while stronger students reach the harder ones.
- A whole group that needs more support: Week 3 easier: Back-rank checkmate. A whole group ready for more: Week 3 harder: Back-rank checkmate.
Check for understanding
- Why is the king in a back-rank mate trapped? Answer: Its own pawns block the squares in front of it.
- Name one way to protect your own king from it. Answer: Move a pawn in front of the king (for example h3) to make a free square, or keep a rook or queen guarding the back row.
- Can a queen give back-rank mate? Answer: Yes, a queen or a rook.
Help for beginners
Ask “Where can the king go?” before each puzzle. Students who are stuck can try every check; the board says when a check is not checkmate.
For stronger students
"Week 3 harder": mates in 2, where a piece is given away first.
Every position, answer and hint on this page is checked move by move with chess.js before it is published. Real-game puzzles come from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).