ANSWERS TO CHESS BEGINNER'S QUESTIONS
To mate the lone king you need at least 5 points of material,
where Q=9, R=5, B=N=3.
A pawn may win because of its potential to promote.
These answers include the most important K+Q versus K and K+R versus K mates.
Question 1
White to move
Qg7 mate (short for checkmate).
Note that the king cannot capture the queen which is defended by the
white king.
A king can never move next to a king or opponent's queen.
Black to move
Black is stalemated and the game is a draw, all squares the king can
move to are controlled by White.
Note the important difference between checkmate and stalemate:
Checkmate is check while stalemate is not.
Question 2
White to move
Qh8 mate
Black to move
Black will soon be mated.
Question 3
White to move
Qf7 mate
Black to move
Black is stalemated.
Question 4
White to move
Rc8 mate
Black to move
Black will soon be mated.
Question 5
White to move
Rh8 mate
Black to move
Black will soon be mated.
Question 6
White to move
King plus bishop cannot mate.(5 point rule.)
Black to move
Black is stalemated.
Question 7
White to move
King plus knight cannot mate.(5 point rule.)
Black to move
Black is stalemated.
Question 8
The squares are a1,c1,g1,a3,c3,g3,a5,c5,e5,g5,a7,c7,e7,g7.
To be in opposition, kings must always be on the same colour
and within a mutiple of 2 squares straight or diagonal.
Half the squares on that colour the kings will be in opposition
and on half they won't be.
This is much better way than calculating rectangles etc. which
a former English champion once showed me. Their are some very
strong players who are not familiar with this shortcut for
determining whether opposition exists or not.
This is not to say placing kings in opposition is always best,
but there many situations where it is.
Back to Chess course.