Learn › Lessons › Endgames › Basic checkmates

Checkmate with king and queen

The box method: shrink the king's space, bring your king, finish without stalemate.

Beginner · Basic checkmates · 3 steps. On Chess Castles, Chess Guru reads each step aloud in English, Hindi or Marathi while the moves play on the board, and you can practise any position against the engine.

Step 1

♚︎♛︎♚︎
The position

King and queen against a lonely king is always a win. The plan has three parts: the queen builds a box around the enemy king, the box gets smaller, and your king walks up to help.

Step 2

♚︎♛︎♚︎
The position before the moves

Moves: 1.Kf2 Kf6 2.Qd6+ Kg7 3.Ke3 Kh8 4.Ke4 Kg7

Watch the queen: she stays a knight's jump away from the king, never giving it room. The black king is pushed to the edge.

Step 3

♚︎♛︎♚︎
The position before the moves

Moves: 1.Kf2 Kf6 2.Qd6+ Kg7 3.Ke3 Kh8 4.Ke4 Kg7 5.Kf5 Kf7 6.Qc7+ Kg8 7.Kf6 Kh8 8.Qg7#

Now the king comes close to protect the queen, and the queen gives checkmate on the edge. Careful: always leave the enemy king one square until the final move, or it is stalemate, a draw!

Open the lesson on the board · free, no account needed to read it.

More lessons in Basic checkmates

Next lesson: Checkmate with king and rook