Back-rank mate in 1 on e1 (d2)
li-04AJPnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Back rank: the king is trapped behind its own pawns — use that.
Mate in 1: find the move after which the enemy king has no escape.
Difficulty 1417 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A back-rank mate strikes when the king is boxed in by its own pawns and the back rank is under-defended. Check whether a rook or queen can reach the first rank with check and whether the only defender can be deflected or overloaded.
A mate in one hides among forcing checks. Run through every check you can give: does it cover all the king's escape squares, is the checking piece safe or supported, and can nothing block or capture it? If yes, that is the mate.
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 h1, queen b3, rook b1, bishop d1, pawn g2 h2 a4 f4 e5.
Black: king h8, queen d2, rook c8, pawn d5 f5 a6 e6 h6 g7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 34.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (22 against 20; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h1, the black king on h8.
It is Black to move on move 34, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The Black king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
34... Qe1#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e1 keeps the pressure (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 1.
Move by move
- 34… Qe1# — queen to e1 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Back-rank mate
The king is locked behind its own pawns — a heavy piece strikes the last rank.
The back-rank mate strikes a king locked behind its own unmoved pawns when a rook or queen crashes onto the last rank. The signs: no escape hole in front of the king, and the back rank guarded by a single piece or by nobody at all. Often that lone guard is deflected or traded off first, and only then comes the invasion. In your own games, make luft in time — one pawn move prevents a sudden catastrophe.
Mate in 1
Checkmate in a single move — find it.
Mate in one: the combination is over, only the final precise shot remains. The method is simple — list every check you have and test the three escapes against each: king moves, blocks, and capturing the checker. If none of them works, it is mate. The classic blunder is falling in love with the first check you see and missing the one escape hatch.
Corner mate
Driven into the corner, the king runs out of squares.
The corner mate catches a king driven into the corner, where it has only three neighboring squares — all of them taken away or blocked. The corner is the worst home for a king, because the attacker needs to control the fewest squares there. Herd the king toward the corner with checks and never let it slip back toward the center. Cut off the escape routes before the final check, and the mate practically assembles itself.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 010
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads