Some other tips are to not think of defending much at the start of the game. Make sure to control the center (d4, e4, d3, and e3) on pawns is an example. If your opponent’s king is crammed by their own pieces but only own piece open, you need to make sure that piece is blocked to go on.
And, how checkmate works is that kings can’t get eaten (or any other word people call it) If a pawn is on a place where if kings could be eaten, then the king is in CHECK. Although you shouldn’t try checking a king with a pawn, because the king can just eat it.