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chess noob Quick Wins! is a series of short videos, to demonstrate very quick wins! As a beginner, you become aware of the Scholar’s Mate and the Fool’s Mate, but neither of these show up in real games. However, there are tricky quick checkmates and wins that occur, even at the intermediate level of chess.

Today’s game was a very quick unrated game I played a few weeks ago! It’s a great example of how setting up an early attack with a trap can catch out an opponent, especially someone at the beginner-intermediate level!

I had the white pieces, and the game starts with the Vienna, and Black plays a slightly suboptimal response (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 c5). Interesting! I develop my king’s bishop to the usual square (3. Bc4) – which immediately places pressure on Black’s weak f-pawn on f7. Black now brought their queen to the field of battle with (3… Qe7). This is against opening principles – bringing out the queen too early can result in the opponent harassing the queen with their minor pieces, which can result in the loss of tempo and potentially material!

We see this as I could immediately attack the queen with my knight, placing it on a powerful square for the queen’s knight (4. Nd5) which forced Black to move their queen a second time (4… Qd6). Moreover, Black’s queen didn’t have any specific targets was simply a bit awkward on that square.

At this point, I saw a potential trap and brought out my own queen (5. Qf3!?). Stockfish calls this a “mistake”, but I had set up my bishop and queen to potentially double-attack the f7 square – a checkmate threat. Black doesn’t see the looming threat and plays another pawn developing move (5… g6) and this slow move was pretty much game ending!

Next move, (6. Nc7+!!) – an absolute fork of Black’s king and rook and a brilliant knight sacrifice! Black’s must move the king and lose their rook if they wanted to avoid mate, but the temptation for Black to capture my knight with their queen was just too strong (6… Qxc7??). With Black’s queen now on the c7 square, she has trapped her king on the back rank with a [+M2] – (7. Qxf7+ Kd8 8. Qxf8#). GG!

Notice in this game that the game ended in checkmate while Black hadn’t developed any of their pieces other than their queen!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/analysis/library/3q2J6xCCbp

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.01.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Guest8226386902"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[Termination "Guest6412466243 won by checkmate"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723@2x.png"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:09:57.2][%timestamp 28]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:09:58.1][%timestamp
19]} 2. Nc3 {[%clk 0:09:55.5][%timestamp 17] Vienna Game} 2... c5 {[%clk
0:09:47.5][%timestamp 106] Interesting response, but not optimal [+0.7]} 3. Bc4
{[%clk 0:09:50.5][%timestamp 50]} 3... Qe7 $2 {[%clk 0:09:40.4][%timestamp
71][%c_effect e7;square;e7;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake. Opening
principles would suggest moving the queen too early into the field of battle
would result in it being attacked by the opponent, losing tempo and potentially
material... [+2]} 4. Nd5 {[%clk 0:09:16.1][%timestamp 344][%c_arrow
d5e7;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false] ... and we see, the
queen is immediately subject to attack and will be forced to move a second time}
4... Qd6 {[%clk 0:09:19.1][%timestamp 213]} 5. Qf3 $5 {[%clk
0:08:42.1][%timestamp 340][%c_effect
f3;square;f3;type;Interesting;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f3f7;keyPressed;none;from;f3;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false,c4f7;keyPressed;none;from;c4;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false] Setting up a trap $1
Note that the c4-bishop and the queen now both target the weak f-pawn on f7...
Stockfish technically calls this a mistake but White is still ahead [+1].} 5...
g6 $4 {[%clk 0:08:17][%timestamp 621][%c_effect
g6;square;g6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false,f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false][%c_arrow
g8f6;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false] Black doesn't
see the trap and continues to develop - this is a blunder [+4]} 6. Nc7+ $3 {[%clk
0:08:37.7][%timestamp 44][%c_effect
c7;square;c7;type;Brilliant;persistent;true][%c_highlight
c7;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;c7;persistent;false,a8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a8;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false][%c_arrow
c7e8;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,c7a8;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;a8;persistent;false]
Knight sacrifice - brilliant move $3 Note: this opens the light square diagonal
and the c4-bishop now has vision of the f7 square. Black must move their king to
prevent checkmate...} 6... Qxc7 $4 {[%clk 0:08:13.8][%timestamp 32][%c_highlight
d8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d8;persistent;false,c7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c7;persistent;false][%c_arrow
e8d8;keyPressed;none;from;e8;opacity;0.8;to;d8;persistent;false][%c_effect
c7;square;c7;type;Blunder;keyPressed;undefined;persistent;true] But they fall
for the trap by capturing the knight with the queen. The black queen has now
trapped her king on the back rank $1 [+M2]} 7. Qxf7+ {[%clk 0:08:36.6][%timestamp
11][%c_arrow
c4f7;keyPressed;none;from;c4;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false,f7e8;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,f7e7;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false]}
7... Kd8 {[%clk 0:08:02.7][%timestamp 111][%c_arrow
f7e8;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,f7e7;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false]
Forced move.} 8. Qxf8# {[%clk 0:08:35][%timestamp 16][%c_arrow
f8d8;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;d8;persistent;false,f8e7;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d8;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false][%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Winner,d8;square;d8;type;CheckmateBlack] GG $1} 1-0