Fool's mate Fool's mate In chess, Fool's Mate, also known as the Two-Move Checkmate, is the checkmate in the fewest possible number of moves from the start of the game. This can be achieved only by Black, who can deliver checkmate on move 2 with the queen. Fool's Mate received its name because it can only occur if White commits an extraordinary blunder. Even among rank beginners, the mate almost never occurs in practice. An example of Fool's Mate consists of the moves: resulting in the position shown. The pattern can have slight variations; Black could play ...e6 or ...e5, and White
Chess in the arts Poul Anderson's short story "Immortal Game", inspired by the 1851 game played by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky (which also appears in the film "Blade Runner"); or Waldemar Łysiak's "Szachista" (), centered on a game played between Napoleon Bonaparte and The Turk. The game Frank Poole versus HAL 9000 from the film "" is also based on an actual match, albeit not widely known. Other artists drawn their inspirations from the life of players. Vladimir Nabokov wrote "The Defense" after learning about Curt von Bardeleben, while the musical "Chess" was loosely based on the life of Bobby Fischer. Some authors