Mate in 2: king to h2
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The tactical motive
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1372 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
Mate in two usually opens with a forcing move — a check, a capture or an unstoppable threat — that strips the king of squares or defenders, so the follow-up mate becomes unavoidable. Look for the first move that leaves the opponent only losing replies.
General method: before you move, list the forcing candidates — every check, every capture, every direct threat — and calculate those first. The solution to a tactic is almost always among them.
Position on the board
White: king g1, bishop c1, pawn g2 a3 h3.
Black: king h4, bishop c4, pawn c2 a4 h5.
5 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 47.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 6 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on h4.
It is White to move on move 47, with 11 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, d, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
47. Kh2 Bf1 48. g3#
Why it works
- Great move! king to h2 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Well found: pawn to g3 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Bf1, then g3# and it is mate.
Move by move
- 47. Kh2 — king to h2
- Bf1 — bishop to f1
- 48. g3# — pawn to g3 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Pawn mate
The humblest soldier delivers the final blow.
The pawn mate lets the humblest soldier land the final blow. It happens to a king stuck among its own and enemy pieces: the pawn strikes diagonally from one square away and there is nowhere left to run. The sign: the squares around the king are covered or occupied, and your pawn stands one step from striking distance. Never write pawns out of your attack — their blows are the cheapest and therefore the most humiliating.
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.
Minor-piece endgame
Bishops and knights duel — geometry decides.
A minor-piece endgame leaves only bishops and knights with pawns, and geometry decides. The bishop loves an open board and play on both wings; the knight loves fixed pawns and outpost squares. Check which color squares the pawns stand on and where the knight can actually reach in time. Practical tip: against a knight, spread the play across both flanks — short legs cannot cover everything.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 010
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