What counts as a good idea in chess?

A good idea in chess is any idea that your opponent doesn't now how to meet... and for some levels of chess Scholar’s Mate is a good idea.

In fact, Scholar’s Mate featured in the first game of chess I ever played in a chess club! Sadly I got checkmated…

If you don't know Scholar’s Mate (also known as the 'four-move checkmate'), it goes like this:

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2025.04.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Scholar's Mate"]
[Black "How it works"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C20"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[SourceVersionDate "2025.04.06"]

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Qxf7# *

You can press the little plus sign to make it play

So, painful eh?

But you can defend against it fairly easily.

The first defense you might think of is to play 2…g6

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2025.04.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Scholar's Mate"]
[Black "How NOT to defend"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C20"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[SourceVersionDate "2025.04.06"]

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 g6 3. Qxe5+ Qe7 4.Qxh8 *

However that doesn't work right now because you lose your e-pawn and then your Rook

So play 2…Nc6 first and then you'll be able to play 3…g6

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2025.04.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Scholar's Mate"]
[Black "How to defend"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C20"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[SourceVersionDate "2025.04.06"]

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 g6 (3…Nf6)(3…Qf6)*

and in fact plenty of things work here: 3…g6 is a good reply, 3…Nf6 is a good reply, 3…Qf6 too, so lots of things work as a defence.

This position is maybe not so bad for either side, but I always think getting your queen out very early as a bit suspicious because the little pieces, the Knights and Bishops, can come out quickly and attack the Queen – so White will waste time moving their Queen out of danger and Black can gain time or perhaps start an attack themselves. If White sticks to their idea of checkmate, it can all go wrong:

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2025.04.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Scholar's Mate"]
[Black "How to defend"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C20"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[SourceVersionDate "2025.04.06"]

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 g6 4. Qf3 Nf6 5. g4 $2 Nd4 6. Qd1 d5 7. Be2 dxe4 *

Black stands much better here

So if your opponent does know how to meet Scholar’s Mate then maybe you shouldn’t try it.

What if you don’t know whether your opponent knows it or not?

Well, it’s up to you, but I’d prefer to play moves that are always good, no matter what your opponent knows.

As you get better at chess, you might find other examples of attacks and traps that are great if your opponent doesn’t know them, but can be bad if they do (Blackburme’s Shilling Gambit, Fried Liver Attack…).

So, enjoy learning about these ideas, but always try to play moves that are good no matter what!