Week 4: Basic mating patterns
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 recognise five checkmate patterns: queen and king, queen or rook on the edge, two rooks (the ladder), the smothered mate, and Scholar’s Mate, and can defend against Scholar’s Mate.
Before class (under 10 minutes)
Prerequisites: Weeks 1–3, especially back-rank checkmate.
- Open "Week 4 demonstration".
- Have "Week 4 practice" ready in the Puzzles list.
Class plan, minute by minute
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Warm-up One back-rank mate from last week on the shared board; a volunteer solves it with control. |
| 5–20 min | Shared board: patterns Load "Week 4 demonstration": the ladder with two rooks, the queen helped by the king, then king and queen against king (push the king to the edge; watch out for stalemate). |
| 20–35 min | Puzzles on their own boards Puzzles → "Week 4 practice": each pattern once, plus a real-game mate. Mixed-level group: "Week 4 all levels". |
| 35–52 min | Play each other Pair students and start. Challenge: protect f7 (or f2) from Scholar’s Mate. |
| 52–60 min | Review Review questions below. Preview: next week, forks. |
Shared-board demonstration
In the lesson app: Lesson library → Week 4 demonstration: Basic mating patterns.
White to move: checkmate with two rooks (the ladder).
Rooks take turns: one guards a row, the other checks on the next. Like climbing a ladder.
Answer: Rg8#. One rook guards the 7th row, the other checks on the 8th.
White to move: checkmate in 1. The king helps the queen.
A queen next to the enemy king needs a guard, or the king just takes it.
Answer: Qd7#. The queen is right in front of the king, protected by the white king.
King and queen against king: push the king to the edge and checkmate it. Watch out for stalemate!
Play it out with one student. Stalemate = no legal move but not in check: a draw. Always leave the king a square until the mate.
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 4 practice: Basic mating patterns (6 puzzles, including real-game puzzles from Lichess). The worksheet uses the same puzzles.
- Mixed-level group: Week 4 all levels: Basic mating patterns (16 puzzles): the 4 easier ones first, then the practice set, then 6 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 4 easier: Basic mating patterns. A whole group ready for more: Week 4 harder: Basic mating patterns.
Check for understanding
- What is the difference between checkmate and stalemate? Answer: Checkmate: in check with no way out (a win). Stalemate: not in check but no legal move (a draw).
- Which square does Scholar’s Mate attack? Answer: f7 (f2 for White), the square only the king protects at the start.
- Which piece gives a smothered mate? Answer: The knight.
Help for beginners
Before each puzzle, ask the student to name the pattern. If they’re stuck, give the starting square of the mating piece as a hint.
For stronger students
"Week 4 harder": real-game mates in 1 and 2 from Lichess.
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).