How to checkmate with a queen and king

Start with the part that surprises people. The strongest piece in chess cannot checkmate a lone king on her own, no matter how many moves she is given. Your king has to walk up and help.

A lone queen can chase a king around forever, but she can never mate it. The king must come and take away the last squares.

The method has two rules and one warning:

1. Put the queen a knight's move away from the enemy king. Not next to it, not on the same line as it. A knight's jump away.
2. If the queen is already a knight's move away, leave her there and move your king one step closer.
3. Before every quiet move, check that the enemy king still has a legal move. If it does not, you must give check instead, or the game is a draw.

That is the whole thing. It takes at most ten moves from any position.

Picture a rectangle drawn around the enemy king. The queen's lines are the walls. The king can walk inside the box but never out of it.

Each time you move the queen to a new knight's-move square, the box gets smaller. The king is pushed towards the edge of the board without ever being checked.

The queen never needs to give check while the box is shrinking. Checks only push the king back into open space and waste your time.

A knight's move is the safest distance in this endgame. From that distance the queen attacks a big block of squares next to the king. She never stands beside the king, so the king can never capture her.

Look at a queen on d2 and a king on e4. The queen covers d3, d4, d5, e3, e2, c3 and more. The king cannot reach any square she stands on.

Even better, the king often has to move to another square that is still a knight's move from the queen. That is when you get a free move to walk your own king closer.

Stalemate means the side to move has no legal move and is not in check. The game is an instant draw, even if you are a queen ahead.

It happens because the queen is so strong. Push the enemy king into a corner, park the queen a knight's move away, and the king may have no square left at all.

Two habits stop it:

• Every time you are about to move the queen, count the enemy king's squares. If the answer is zero, your move must be a check.
• Once the enemy king is on the edge, stop moving the queen. Walk your king up instead and mate with one final queen move.

Almost every queen mate looks like one of these two pictures.

The queen next to the king, guarded by your king. The queen stands on the square beside the enemy king and your king stands right behind her. Nothing can take her and she covers every escape square.

The queen on the far edge, your king facing. Your king stands two squares in front of the enemy king. The queen checks along the edge from far away. The kings facing each other cover the three squares in between.

If your last move does not make one of those two pictures, it is not mate yet.

Set a queen and king against a lone king on an empty board. Put the lone king in the middle.

Now mate it three times in a row without giving a single check until the last move. If you check early, start again.

That one rule teaches the whole endgame, because it forces you to shrink the box instead of chasing. Most learners can do it inside ten minutes.