The queen shrinks the black king’s space until it reaches the edge; then the white king comes closer and delivers . Watch out for : always leave the black king at least one free square until the mate.
Moves
No moves yet.
About this endgame
It is the first mate to learn, because it comes up every time a pawn queens and the opponent has no pieces left. From here, with best play, White mates in 7 moves, but you do not need perfect play: you need a method. The queen stands a knight’s move away from the black king and boxes it into a smaller and smaller rectangle, without giving check. Once the king is on the edge, the queen stops and the white king comes in, because the queen cannot on its own. The danger is . The typical trap is that same knight’s-move distance once the king is already in the corner: it cannot move and is not in check. And do not give random checks either. In this position three of them put the queen where the black king can take it.