Chess Basics: Legal's Mate
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Chess Basics: Legal's Mate
In this lesson, we examine a game between a kindergartener and a fifth grader that resulted in a quick checkmate. The tricky pattern used to win is known as Legal’s mate, named after 19th century French player Sire de Legal and famous for its potential to end a game in fewer than 10 moves.
This game teaches students an essential tenet of good sportsmanship: never underestimate your opponent.
Kindergartener vs. Fifth Grader
In this game, the kindergartener played White and the fifth grader played Black.
On the fifth move, Black pinned White’s f3 knight to the queen in hopes of restricting its movement and limiting its control of the center:
Recognizing pins and other tactics is key to strong chess play–missed tactics can lead to unexpected material losses. In this case, the kindergartener moved the pinned knight to capture Black’s e5 pawn, exposing their queen to capture by the bishop:
Disaster! …or is it?
By capturing White’s queen, the fifth grader unknowingly stepped into a trap called Legal’s Trap, or Legal’s Mate, which sacrifices the queen in favor of an early win. The kindergartener delivered checkmate just two moves later:
Conclusion
