Children's mat in chess
Children's chess mate has such a name because it is mainly children who receive it. And even if an adult loses, he does it quite “like a child” - i.e. delivers the party quickly and without resistance.
To master a child’s mat, to begin with, let’s see what a chess mat is in general.
Mat is a position where one of the kings cannot defend itself against the attack of enemy figures - neither move away, nor eat, nor be protected from attacking. This means that the player whose king “got caught” lost the game.
Usually the mate is placed at the very end of the game, when there is already a minimum of pieces on the board. But you can lose at the beginning, if you make the wrong moves. Children's mat just can be obtained in the debut of the party. An experienced chess player will never be given a child’s mate, but newbies have too little knowledge, so they make fatal mistakes.
In fact, the baby mat is easy to avoid if played correctly.
The idea of a child's mat
Chess king in the game protect various pieces. If we look at the board, we will see that in the initial position the king is surrounded by his assistants - the queen, the bishop, the pawns. And each cell of the board near it (chess players call them fields) is also under their vigilant supervision. But if you are a little familiar with the rules, notice that one of the fields next to the kings is f2 (for white) and f7 (for black) only the king protects. Chess players call these fields weak, because in the event of an attack, the defenders may not have time to help.
The idea of a child's mat is to attack a weak point. If you play wrong, the game will end very quickly. Classic children's mat is placed in 4 turns. The attacking side attacks the high-speed queen and the bishop. The sequence of moves in the children's mat is reflected in the chess notation:
e4 e5 - means that the white pawn went to e4, and the black pawn to e5.
Ph5 Cc6 - the white queen went to the h5 field, the black knight - to the c6 field.
Сc4 Кf6 ?? - the white elephant went to the c4 field, the black horse went to the f6 field. Two question marks when recording a game means that this is a very bad move.
F: f7x. White eats the pawn on f7 and checkmate.
White's second and third moves can be interchanged, it does not matter, the main thing is that the bishop and the queen attack the f7-square. Some players believe that the children's mat is placed in 3 turns, since Black did not make the fourth move. But it’s still more correct to call him a mate in 4 moves.
Black mate is placed in the same position, only in its mirror image.
There is another version of the child's mat (it is often called a stupid mat):
1.f3 (or f4) e6 - the white pawn went to f4, black to e6.
2.g4 ?? Фh4x - the white pawn went to g4 - this is a very bad move. Black checkmate queen on h4.
It turned out mate in 2 moves.
The chess player lost so quickly because he opened the weak field f7, which, on the contrary, should be protected as much as possible.
Child Mat Protection
How to avoid mate in the party? It is necessary to closely monitor the moves of the enemy - and in the case of threats - to take immediate measures to protect. Tell the child that the queen is a very strong piece and it’s erroneous to draw him at the beginning of the game, because he will immediately be attacked by other pieces. If the opponent brought the queen early, in order to checkmate you must use this - you can attack him and at the same time prevent the checkmate.
In the classic children's mat it is necessary to protect the f2 point (for black f7). For example, when White's queen rose to h5, the queen of f6 would be an excellent response for Black. Now he will protect the f7 field. Then Black can move the bishop to c5, and the losing side becomes attacking, attacking f2.
In addition to the queen move f6, Black can go with the g6-pawn with the attack on the White Queen. Such an option is suitable if the black pawn e5 is under protection (the knight stands on c6 or the pawn on d6). White wanted to checkmate, but in the end they would have to quickly run away so as not to lose the queen. Black has a better position than whites. There are other ways to protect yourself.
In order not to get a stupid mate, it is enough not to make frankly weak moves - f4 and g4.
How to help your child remember a child's mat
- Explain to him what the term means - weak fields in chess, give examples of such fields. Why is f2 and f7 called weak? What shapes protect them?
- Show on the chessboard how to make a child's mat with white and black pieces (following the tips from the article)
- Start to work out the technique - let the child give you a child’s mat with white and then black pieces. Make weak moves, let him beat you several times without resistance. The main thing is to understand the idea and the approximate sequence of the output of figures.
- Keep practicing. Let the child checkmate you with whites, and you resist, make defensive moves. Baby is very useful to look for options in new positions. Do not forget to change the color of the figures - now let them attack with black.
- Switch roles - you checkmate, and the child is protected. Also work out this technique in both white and black.
Do not scold the child if he does not succeed immediately mate or does not go effectively to protect. Be patient, even if the kid constantly makes mistakes. As soon as he understands the idea and masters the new skill, all problems will disappear, and he will play chess much stronger.
How to make a child’s mat is shown in the following video.
