Mate in one

How to find the mate

Checkmate means the king is in check and has no way out. It can't move to a safe square, the check can't be blocked, and the checking piece can't be captured. Then the game is over, no matter how much material is left on the board.

Mate in one is the foundation of all tactics. Go through every check you can give, and see where the king can run after each one. Often it's your opponent's own pieces that hem the king in, and then a single check from the right square is enough.

The hard puzzles here are hard for a reason: the mate can hide in a promotion, in a discovered check, or in a move with a piece you weren't looking at. If you find a different mate from the one in the solution, that counts too. Mate is mate.

How the puzzles work

There are 150 puzzles here. Choose a level above the board. Within each level the puzzles get harder and harder, and when you come back you pick up where you left off.

Your opponent makes the first move, then it's your turn. If you get stuck, Hint shows which piece to move, and Show the solution plays the rest. The theme only shows once the puzzle is done, but here you already know what you're looking for.

In Puzzle training you get puzzles in this theme at your own level, and see how you're doing in each theme.

More puzzles

• Mate in two
• Mate in three
• Fork
• Pin
• Skewer
• Discovered attack
• Double check
• Sacrifice
• Deflection
• Attraction
• Hanging piece
• In-between move
• Back-rank mate
• Smothered mate
• Promotion
• Endgame
• Rook endgames
• Pawn endgames
• Zugzwang

The puzzles come from Lichess, fetched on October 2, 2026.

Updated November 6, 2026