In all variations, the basic idea is the same: the queen and bishop combine in a simple mating attack, occurring on f7 for White or on f2 for Black.
Defending against it is very simple, and its failure typically results in the attacking side's position becoming heavily crippled.
Scholar's mate was named and described in The Royall Game of Chesse-Play, a 1656 text by Francis Beale which adapted the work of the early chess writer Gioachino Greco.
Beale's text was an early modern account of the rules and tactics of chess, including concepts such as the ability of a pawn to advance two squares on its first move, the en passant capture, forks, and exchanges.
[3] However, the document treated a then-exotic subject during the early days of printing; consequently the publisher attached a list of errata at the back, following publication.
During the eighth round of the World Rapid Chess Championship 2023, Surya Shekhar Ganguly as white was checkmated in 8 moves by Mukhiddin Madaminov in a Scotch Game that ended in a scholar's mate pattern.
Qxf7+ Kd8 leaves White with no checkmate and no good way to defend against both ...Nd4, threatening the c2-pawn, and ...Qf6, exchanging queens.
Although a quick mate on f7 is almost never seen in play above beginner level, the basic idea underlying it—that f7 and f2, squares defended only by the kings, are weak and therefore good targets for early attack—is the motivating principle behind a number of chess openings.
[7] Among English speakers, the scholar's mate is also known as schoolboy's mate (which in modern English perhaps better connotes the sense of "novice" intended by the word scholar's) and Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war", meaning a quick victory).