Since a queen is more powerful than a rook, you would think that checkmating with king and queen would be easier than checkmating with king and rook. Well, yes, that's true, and you can generally checkmate the lone king much faster with king and queen. But it's also trickier.

Stalemate!

The reason it is trickier to checkmate with a queen than with a rook is because the tremendous power of the queen often gives the weak king a chance to set up a stalemate trap. The best way to show that possibility is to try to checkmate a lone king with a lone queen. Nothing else is allowed on the board for this exercise—not even the strong king. You will soon find that, although the lone queen can push the lone king to the side of the board, there is never a checkmate. There are, however, stalemate opportunities.

With the King's Help

Now add the strong king, and the stalemating opportunities go up! Here are a few, with Black to move. They are all stalemate.

So how can you avoid those nasty stalemates? The best way to make sure you avoid stalemating a lone king is to be aware of the traps and look for them before making your move. Another way of avoiding these traps is to make sure the lone king has a spare square if you don't plan on placing him in check. A third way to avoid these traps is to remember that the queen is a long-range piece, and keep her far away.

The Checkmates

There are more possible checkmates with queen and king versus lone king to go along with the added stalemate possibilities. Here is what they look like:

The plan is very much like the one you used with king and rook, except you can dispense with some parts of it. You still have to use the king as a helper, but you don't always need to keep the opposition.

Practice these king and major piece against king checkmates against your computer or a willing partner. Once you know them cold you can go into a position, even quite a complicated position, in which you have an extra pawn, and you already know a good plan of action: