Answers.Body: <p>4 moves, as far as I can tell.</p>
  
  <pre><code>[FEN ""]
  1. e3 e5 2. Ke2 Qh4 3. Kf3 d6 4. Qe2 e4#
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Another one:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[FEN ""]
  1. d3 d5 2. Kd2 e5 3. Kc3 Be6 4. Qd2 d4#
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And one more:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[FEN ""]
  1. e3 e5 2. Ke2 d5 3. Kd3 Qf6 4. Qe2 e4#
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Same theme for all of them, really.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-04T19:15:23.000Z
Answers.Text: Mate in 3 moves seems impossible.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Dag Oskar Madsen
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-04T19:22:12.153Z
Answers.Text: Indeed; also it seems that the shortest mates must take place with white king positioned at third row. Could be interesting to find shortest checkmate sequences for white king positioned at different (1-5) rows.
Answers.UserDisplayName: GloriaVictis
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-04T20:30:39.597Z
Answers.Text: And two extra versions of each of these, by placing a knight or bishop on d2/e2 instead of the queen.
Answers.UserDisplayName: David Richerby
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-04T20:47:59.670Z
Answers.Text: @DavidRicherby Indeed, there's even more. For example placing queen on g5 instead of h4 (and pawn on d5/f5 instead of d6) in the first diagram, as well as using a5/c5 pawn or d6 queen instead of f8 bishop to cover b4 square in second diagram (pawn on e5 is not crucial, since queen covers the d4 pawn). Seemed unnecessary to include, since the overarching theme remains unchanged.
Answers.UserDisplayName: GloriaVictis
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-04T21:09:29.903Z
Answers.Text: @GloriaVictis Ah, I'd not noticed there were so many alternatives. That being the case, I agree there's not much point listing them all.
Answers.UserDisplayName: David Richerby
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-04T21:16:36.143Z
Answers.Text: 4 moves, 4 votes. :-)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sufyan Naeem
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-05T14:57:02.820Z
Answers.Text: This shows it's in theory possible but it will almost never happen, since most of the time players don't move their king when not needed, especially in the beginning of the game.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Joshua Bakker
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-04T18:40:26.433Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-01-04T19:06:57.527Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2016-01-04T19:06:57.527Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: GloriaVictis
Answers.Body: <p>I think it is 5 moves.</p>
  
  <pre><code>[FEN ""]
  
  1. a3 e5 
  2. a4 e4
  3. a5 e3
  4. a6 Bc5
  5. axb7 exf2#
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>You can't do it any shorter as you need at least 4 moves to get your pawn to the 2nd line where it can checkmate the white's king and one more move to bring a supporting piece (queen or bishop), so the white king wouldn't be able to capture your pawn.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-04T18:42:05.397Z
Answers.Text: -1; while it is true, that for the trivial mate presented in this answer 5 moves is in fact minimum, it is possible to construct a game with fewer moves required.
Answers.UserDisplayName: GloriaVictis
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-01-04T15:14:56.153Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-01-04T18:09:15.437Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2016-01-04T18:09:15.437Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Alex Petrov
Body: <p>Interesting puzzle that is quite hard to stop.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2016-06-06T08:16:38.850Z
Comments.Text: A pawn is not enough to mate a King. At the very least you need the support of one friendly piece (so the King does not simply capture the pawn) and several enemy pieces to smother their own King (or a board with smothered squares, like for Omega chess).
Comments.UserDisplayName: hkBst
Tags: <checkmate><problems><pawns>
Title: What is the shortest number of moves from the starting position required for Black to mate White with a pawn?
ThreadText: # What is the shortest number of moves from the starting position required for Black to mate White with a pawn?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-01-04)
  
  Interesting puzzle that is quite hard to stop.
  
  **Tags:** checkmate, problems, pawns
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: A pawn is not enough to mate a King. At the very least you need the support of one friendly piece (so the King does not simply capture the pawn) and several enemy pieces to smother their own King (or a board with smothered squares, like for Omega chess).  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2016-01-04. Score: 22
  
  4 moves, as far as I can tell.
  
  ```
  [FEN ""]
  1. e3 e5 2. Ke2 Qh4 3. Kf3 d6 4. Qe2 e4#
  
  ```
  
  Another one:
  
  ```
  [FEN ""]
  1. d3 d5 2. Kd2 e5 3. Kc3 Be6 4. Qd2 d4#
  
  ```
  
  And one more:
  
  ```
  [FEN ""]
  1. e3 e5 2. Ke2 d5 3. Kd3 Qf6 4. Qe2 e4#
  
  ```
  
  Same theme for all of them, really.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: Mate in 3 moves seems impossible.  
  > **username_2**: Indeed; also it seems that the shortest mates must take place with white king positioned at third row. Could be interesting to find shortest checkmate sequences for white king positioned at different (1-5) rows.  
  > **username_4**: And two extra versions of each of these, by placing a knight or bishop on d2/e2 instead of the queen.  
  > **username_2**: @username_4 Indeed, there's even more. For example placing queen on g5 instead of h4 (and pawn on d5/f5 instead of d6) in the first diagram, as well as using a5/c5 pawn or d6 queen instead of f8 bishop to cover b4 square in second diagram (pawn on e5 is not crucial, since queen covers the d4 pawn). Seemed unnecessary to include, since the overarching theme remains unchanged.  
  > **username_4**: @username_2 Ah, I'd not noticed there were so many alternatives. That being the case, I agree there's not much point listing them all.  
  > **username_5**: 4 moves, 4 votes. :-)  
  > **username_6**: This shows it's in theory possible but it will almost never happen, since most of the time players don't move their king when not needed, especially in the beginning of the game.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2016-01-04. Score: 2
  
  I think it is 5 moves.
  
  ```
  [FEN ""]
  
  1. a3 e5 
  2. a4 e4
  3. a5 e3
  4. a6 Bc5
  5. axb7 exf2#
  
  ```
  
  You can't do it any shorter as you need at least 4 moves to get your pawn to the 2nd line where it can checkmate the white's king and one more move to bring a supporting piece (queen or bishop), so the white king wouldn't be able to capture your pawn.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: -1; while it is true, that for the trivial mate presented in this answer 5 moves is in fact minimum, it is possible to construct a game with fewer moves required.  
  
  ---
  
  