Below are links to 6 different positions. Once you open them, your task is to find the checkmate. As we say in chess, “mate in 1, white to move.” This means white must make one move to put black in checkmate. If you make this move incorrectly, black will be able to move away. If you correctly find the checkmate, you’ll see a pop-up message that says “Game over, you won!”
Do not guess the right move. Pretend this is a tournament and adhere to the “touch-move-touch-take” rule, which means that if you touch a piece, you have to move it, and if you pick up a piece and touch one of your opponent’s pieces that your piece can take, you have to take it. In this case (since you’re on the computer), imagine the move you think is correct and make sure that the opponent’s king:
1) is in check
2) can’t move out of check
3) can’t block the check
4) can’t capture the piece putting him in check
When you think all these criteria will be met, make your move.
Click the links to the positions below and then click “Start” to begin.
Position 1
Position 2
Position 3
Position 4
Position 5
Position 6
Finding checkmates is one of the best ways to begin building your chess skills. To continue practicing, I recommend the chess book bible, Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games by László Polgár. This book not only has thousands of mates-in-1, but also thousands of mates-in-2 (i.e., white makes a move, black makes a move, and then white checkmates black) and mates-in-3.
Lesson 1: Chess pieces and notation
Lesson 3: Checkmating
- VIDEO | What is checkmating?
- QUIZ | Is it checkmate?
- ACTIVITY | Find checkmate (mate-in-one) ♕
- QUIZ | Find checkmate (mate-in-two)
- VIDEO | Checkmate with a queen and a rook
- ACTIVITY | Practice checkmating with a queen and a rook
- VIDEO | Checkmate with two rooks
- ACTIVITY | Practice checkmating with two rooks
- VIDEO | Checkmate with a king and a queen
- ACTIVITY | Practice checkmating with a king and a queen
- VIDEO | Checkmate with a king and a rook
- ACTIVITY | Practice checkmating with a king and a rook
- VIDEO | Checkmate with a king and pawn
- ACTIVITY | Practice checkmating with a king and pawn
- VIDEO | Interview with WIM Karina Vazirova: How did you get good at chess?