King and queen checkmate

King and queen against a lone king is a win when the queen keeps the king cut off and your king comes close enough to cover a flight square. Stalemate is the way to spoil it.

  1. Use the queen to take a rank or a file away from the enemy king. Keep at least one square between the queen and the king unless your own king defends the queen.
  2. Bring your king toward the box. The queen cannot mate by herself.
  3. Shrink the box one rank or file at a time. When the enemy king is on the edge, the mating square is the one your king covers.
  4. If the enemy king has no legal move and is not in check, the game is a draw by stalemate. Leave one square until the move that gives check.

On the board

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h

Starting position.

Queen endgame puzzles

These are puzzles tagged for that material, not a claim that every one is this exact ending. Theme page

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