What’s on the Basic Checkmates poster
A 7-row table: Material · Result · Moves.
Against a lone king, with best defence. Two of these are draws — knowing which saves half points.
- King + queen — Mate — ≤10
- King + rook — Mate — ≤16
- King + two rooks — Mate — ≤8
- King + two bishops — Mate — ≤19
- King + bishop + knight — Mate — hard — ≤33
- King + two knights — DRAW — cannot force
- King + one minor piece — DRAW — insufficient
Queen mate: box the king smaller each move, keep a knight's distance, avoid stalemate. Check the whole board before every check.
Questions about the Basic Checkmates poster
- What’s on the Basic Checkmates poster?
- A 7-row table: Material · Result · Moves. Against a lone king, with best defence. Two of these are draws — knowing which saves half points. King + queen — Mate — ≤10; King + rook — Mate — ≤16; King + two rooks — Mate — ≤8; King + two bishops — Mate — ≤19; King + bishop + knight — Mate — hard — ≤33; King + two knights — DRAW — cannot force; King + one minor piece — DRAW — insufficient. Queen mate: box the king smaller each move, keep a knight's distance, avoid stalemate. Check the whole board before every check.
- Who is the Basic Checkmates poster for?
- Basic Checkmates belongs to the Chess section rather than to a school year, because games is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning endgames can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Basic Checkmates poster?
- Practise these against a computer until they are automatic. They decide won games. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Basic Checkmates belongs on the wall where that games work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Basic Checkmates?
- Bishop Endgames, King Activity and Endgame Principles sit alongside Basic Checkmates in the Chess section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Bishop EndgamesKing ActivityEndgame Principles
- Is the Basic Checkmates poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Basic Checkmates downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Chess section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Basic Checkmates poster print at?
- Basic Checkmates is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Basic Checkmates loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Basic Checkmates on the same wall.
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