Mate in 2: queen to h7 (c2·8)
li-01yhDnaming tag (square·N)The tactical motive
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1849 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king c1, queen c2, rook d1, pawn a2 e3 d4 e5 h5 h6.
Black: king f7, queen b4, rook c8 e8, pawn b3 c3 e6.
9 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Rf1#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h7 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Spot on — rook to f1 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Kf8, then Rf1# and it is mate.
Types in this puzzle
Mate in 2
A forced checkmate in two moves.
Mate in two: your move, any reply, then the mating blow. Start with the most forcing first moves — checks and sacrifices that shrink the opponent's options to almost nothing. Against every single reply you must have a mate ready, so check them all without exception. The common failure is analyzing the pretty defense and forgetting the boring one.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 013
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