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Mate in 1 puzzles

Checkmate in a single move is the fastest way to build board vision: you learn what a finished attack looks like, one pattern at a time. Nine puzzles below, easiest first. In each one, find the move that ends the game immediately.

A tip before you start: a move is only mate when the enemy king has no reply at all — no square to run to, nothing that can block, and nothing that can capture the piece giving check. Check all three before you call it.

Puzzle 1

King + rook vs. king · White to move and mate in one.

Show the answer

Ra6#.

Puzzle 2

King + queen vs. king · Black to move and mate in one.

Show the answer

Qg2#.

Puzzle 3

King + pawn vs. king · White to move and mate in one.

Show the answer

f8=R# — f8=Q# also mates. Checkmate is checkmate.

Puzzle 4

King + rook vs. king + rook · White to move and mate in one.

Show the answer

Rb8#.

Puzzle 5

King + rook vs. king + bishop · Black to move and mate in one.

Show the answer

Rxf1#.

Puzzle 6

King + rook vs. king + queen · White to move and mate in one.

Show the answer

Rh6#.

Puzzle 7

King + rook vs. king + knight · White to move and mate in one.

Show the answer

Rg8#.

Puzzle 8

King + rook vs. king + pawn · Black to move and mate in one.

Show the answer

Rc1#.

Puzzle 9

King + bishop vs. king + bishop · White to move and mate in one.

Show the answer

Bc6#.

Want the full course?

These nine come from the Learning Path in Chess GM Champion — hundreds of checkmate puzzles from classic training books, ordered easy to hard, with spaced repetition so the patterns stick. It runs fully offline, has no ads and no account, and the coach explains why a wrong answer fails, not just that it does.

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