Mate in 1 Chess Puzzles

Find the checkmate in one move. Free mate in 1 puzzles to build fast pattern recognition.

Each position has a checkmate available in a single move. Your job is to spot it before anything else.

These puzzles are the quickest way to build a library of mating patterns - back-rank mates, smothered mates and queen-and-king finishes.

• Look at every check first. Mates almost always begin with a check.
• Count the enemy king's escape squares and ask which piece can cover the last one.
• Pieces blocking their own king are often the reason the mate works.

Puzzles from Lichess (CC0). Enable JavaScript to play.