Mate in 1 puzzles
84 free mate in 1 puzzles from real games, rated 839 to 2453. Solve them on the board below; your accuracy feeds your weakness map.
What is a mate in 1?
A mate in 1 puzzle asks one thing: is there a move that ends the game right now? It sounds trivial, but players of every level miss one-move mates in their own games, usually because they only look at the moves they were already planning.
Solving these in volume builds the habit strong players have: before any move, scan every check. These positions come from real games, so the mates are hidden behind ordinary-looking positions, not textbook diagrams.
Common mistake
Stopping at the first check you see. Several checks are usually possible and only one is mate.
How to spot it
List every check you have, including the ugly ones: queen sacrifices, rook lifts and pawn checks.
Count the enemy king's escape squares. If there are zero or one, a mate is likely nearby.
Look for pieces that block their own king: pawns on f7/g7/h7, rooks in the corner.
Related themes
- Mate in 2A forcing move, then the finish.
- Mate in 3Longer forcing lines. Calculation practice.
- Back-rank mateThe king trapped behind its own pawns.
- Smothered mateA knight mates a king boxed in by its own pieces.
- Anastasia's mateKnight and rook trap the king on the edge.
Let the adaptive drill find your weakest pattern
Puzzles: Lichess puzzle database (CC0), filtered for popularity and play count. See how Weakspot works.