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How do I prevent the scholars mate when I play the Sicilian defence



I always get blown away when they try to checkmate me using the scholars mate and I end up having little material.

I'm already familiar with scholars mate but this one is different. What are the best moves to prevent this?
In this particular game you can play 7. ... e6, that protects everything while keeping your attack alive, and avoid queen incursion. That might also work in general, but I'm no opening expert or anything

But according to the engine, you're still better at the end of the game, however uncomfortable might it be to play. Engine suggestions are very useful! I suggest you check them and ask back if there is anything you missed.

Good luck with your chess!

EDIT yes, Nf6 is definitely better. Keep your f pawn there if you can!
Yes there are of course situations or positions where f6 makes sense, those exist for virtually any hypothetical move, but in general it's one you should avoid, or at least think very carefully before making. Moving the f pawn exposes your king to all sorts of danger, and f6 in particular limits the ability of your knight, queen and bishop to aid in defending against it.
You can simply play 2...e6/3...e6, and immediately vaporize the Scholar's Mate threat.

Of course, this will drive you into Paulsen/Scheveningen/etc kind of structures instead of Najdorf/Dragon/etc (as indicated by 2...d6) - but you don't get those with 3...f6 either, so whatever.

If your opponent isn't careful, you can even play d5 soon after and gain a tempo (and good presence in the center) off the premature bishop development.
any of the above... or after 7. Qd5 play e6... and let's see where that Q goes...
Ok, so your king got a bit of exercise and there is a couple of mating threats out there. But why resign? I personally would play ... Qd7 to handle the mating threats and protect your queen, then somehow force a queen trade and enjoy the rook you are up.
When you are up a rook, why not trade everything? Leaves you K v R+K 0-1.

As for your general question, I feel that early ...f6 is very often a poor move. Have had bad experiences in e4-e5, Sicilian and also Caro-Kann both before and after castling.
Usually, ...Nf6 is fine, when it is not, Nh6, e6 or d5 (the latter not in the game above) also prevent mate on f7.
@ProfDrHack

Thank you!

This made me win a game when I used your response to vaporize the scholars mate when I did the Sicilian defence!
In general if you put all your pawns in dark squares your white squares will be weak. That's what happened in your game. In particular, the pawn move f7-f6 doesn't make sense at all...ask your g8 knight if he likes it!
Just put your pawn on e6 and white's bishop will be severely restricted. Enough at least to avoid mate.
You got already ample advice that you should play Nf6 and/or e6 instead of f6. Let us try a different and more general explanation as to why this is so:

In the opening you have got 3 objectives (in no particular order):

1) conquer the centre (the 4 central fields, e4, d4, e5, d5)
2) develop your pieces
3) bring your king into safety

Whenever you consider a move ask yourself how many of these objectives are brought forward with that particular move: if all three, then it is perhaps a very good move, if only two it is probably a passable move, if only one or none at all then it is probably a poor move.

Now, in light of this, examine Nf6: it develops a piece, it covers 2 fields in the center because the knight will cover the fields e4 and d5 and it does something for your kings safety because it brings you one move nearer the possibility to castle kingside.

Now consider e6: it does something for the center (d5) and it develops a piece (the bishop f8 can move now). Perhaps not quite as good as Nf6 but still working. Note, that these rules are rules of thumb, so concrete aspects of the position also apply. In this case it is the restriction of the opponents bishop which makes the move equally good as Nf6.

In opposition to this consider f6: it reinforces only one field in the center (e5), it does nothing for piece development and nothing either for kings safety. It is easy to conclude that the move must be worse than Nf6 or e6.

You can, using these objectives, easily find passable moves yourself just by asking yourself how many of these objectives are met by a particular move. There is still opening theory because some opening lines are analysed to an extent where the correct move order is pretty unintuitive, but using these objectives you can come up with second- or third-best moves on the fly. This usually is enough for people below the national master level.

I hope this helps.

krasnaya

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