What is Legal's Mate?
Checkmate Patterns : Legal's Mate Explained
Legal's Mate
Knight and bishop deliver checkmate after a queen sacrifice, exploiting weak f7 (for Black) or f2 (for White) squares.
Legal's Mate is a famous checkmate pattern that typically occurs in the early stages of a chess game, often on the seventh move.
It begins with a seemingly surprising knight sacrifice. However, that's what brilliantly sets a deadly trap which leads to a checkmate in a mere four moves if accepted. Legal's Mate is perfect for a surprise attack, but it solely relies on the opponent not knowing about the pattern.
This pattern got its name from the French player Sire De Legal, who used it for the first time in the 18th century.Board is interactive - move a piece
Playing Legal's Mate
First, you need to play e4, with black responding with e5. Then, you go for Nf3 targeting the e5 pawn. The legal moves for black are d6 or Nc6, but imagine black plays d6. The next move you make is Nc3, nominally protecting your pawn at e4 square, but black will play Bg4.
Now, the bishop's movement to g4 square allows the h5 square for your queen. Thus, the next move you make will be Bc4 threatening to checkmate in the next move with Queen to h5. Usually, black plays Nf6 to block your attempt for Queen to h5 and to attack your pawn on e4.
However, the right move for you is Nxe5. You seemingly let black capture the queen because moving dxe5 would allow black's bishop to attack your queen. But this is exactly what you want!
If black takes the queen, then Bxf7 is a checkmate!
However, Legal's Mate only works when the opponent doesn't know about it and falls for the trap. Otherwise, the opponent will avoid capturing the queen and the pattern would not apply.
In more experienced games, Legal’s Mate is rarely seen. It has become more of a basic tactical pattern, and a lesson why minor pieces should be developed before the queen and also why pieces should be developed in a way to not block the bishops and knights.