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
First-move advantage in chess AlphaZero, playing 100 games against Stockfish, won 25 and drew 25 as White, but won 3 and drew 47 as Black. Joseph Bertin wrote in his 1735 textbook "The Noble Game of Chess", "He that plays first, is understood to have the attack." This is consistent with the traditional view that White, by virtue of the first move, begins with the and should try to extend it into the middlegame, while Black should strive to neutralize White's initiative and attain . Because White begins with the initiative, a minor mistake by White generally leads only to loss of the initiative,