Tactics 5: Common Endgame Checkmates- Part 1
Here are some common checkmates:
First we'll talk about the Queen and King Checkmate. First you want to start off with a move to trap the king in a box of chess squares. I prefer this move, 1. Qc3+.
This lets you encage the king because the queen is guarding the c-file and the 3rd rank. The King cannot escape (the computer won't let me) because the queen is guarding those files.
Now we are going to follow the king. Take a look:
The queen always wants to be a knight's jump away from the king.
You do not want to make the misktake that white did: 5. Qg6. This results in stalemate. The king is trapped, but he is not in check, and he has no other pieces to move.
Instead, you want to stop when the king gets in the corner.
What do you think we should do here?
And that is mate.