Mate in 1 Puzzles
Find checkmate in one move. Then the next one.
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Every mate-in-1 comes down to the same question: after this check, does the king have a legal move, and can anything block or capture the checking piece? If the answer to both is no, it's mate.
Keep going, or dig deeper into the pattern.
Every puzzle here has exactly one move that delivers checkmate immediately. Find it, or reveal the answer and move straight to the next one — there's no limit.
Why mate-in-1 puzzles are worth drilling
Spotting an immediate forced checkmate is one of the fastest pattern-recognition skills to build, because the feedback is instant and unambiguous: you're either right, or you're not. Repetition here trains you to notice mating patterns (back-rank, smothered, corner mates, and more) automatically in real games, not just in puzzles.
Frequently asked questions
Where do these puzzles come from?
The same curated selection from the official, CC0-licensed Lichess open puzzle database that powers the Daily Chess Challenge, filtered specifically for one-move checkmates.
Is there a limit to how many I can solve?
No — unlimited, free, no account, exactly like Practice mode in the Daily Chess Challenge.
Is it free?
Yes. The board is read and analyzed right in your browser, there is no sign up, and you can do it as many times as you like.