How To Punish The Scholar's Mate

Hi everyone! Today I'm going to show you all not only how to defend against the Scholar's mate, but also how to punish it! The Scholar's mate is a 4-move checkmate in the opening which looks like this.

The result is checkmate - in only 4 moves! This might seem a bit scary to a lot of beginners, but it isn't scary if you know how to defend and punish it properly, which is what I'll be showing you all in this blog! 

1. Early queen moves

Usually in the Scholar's mate, the Queen will come out very early to H5 attacking the weak F7 Pawn. This chess opening is known as the Wayward Queen Attack. Not only is the Queen attacking the weak F7 Pawn defended only by the King, it is also attacking the E5 Pawn which ISN'T defended by anything, therefore, the best move in this position is to develop your B8 Knight to C6, defending the E5 Pawn. This is what the position should look like after all those moves.

2. The Bishop comes out, threatening to checkmate on the next move
 
The queen can't take the E5 Pawn because it is now defended by the Knight, so the next move you'll usually see in this position is bringing the F1 Bishop to C4, threatening to checkmate you on the very next move. The next best move in this position is to push the G7 Pawn to G6, attacking the Queen and blocking off it's diagonal.

As the Queen is under attack, you will almost always see it coming back to F3, still attacking the F7 Pawn. Just like we did last time, we need to block off the Queen's line to the F7 pawn. The best way to do that in this position is to bring your G8 Knight to F6, developing a piece and blocking the checkmate threat.

3. White's last attack in this part of the opening
 
Then white might hit you with something really aggressive like pushing the G2 Pawn to G4. The reason why white played this move is becuase on the next move they will want to push that Pawn again to G5, attacking the F6 Knight, and that knight couldn't move because of checkmate. Here is how to defend against this threat:
 
Bring your C6 Knight to D4. This is an absolutely amazing move!
 
- It prevents white from pushing the pawn to G5 as the Queen is under attack
- Black is also threatening to fork the King and Rook by bringing the Knight to C2. 
 
As the Scholar's mate is usually tried at the beginner level, many players will just move their queen to a square where it isn't protecting the fork! And BOOM! You've punished the Scholar's mate!

And even if your opponent moves the Queen to D3 (The best move in this position), protecting the fork, black is still completely winning in this position, here's why.
 
- Black is ahead in development
- The Queen has been completely forced back.
- Black can pick up the G4 Pawn for free with the F6 knight.

Thanks for reading my blog!