Mate in 2: deflection on g4 (g2)
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The tactical motive
Deflection: force the defender to abandon its post.
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1129 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
Deflection drags a defender away from its duty. Identify the enemy piece that guards a key square or mate, then force it to move — with a check, a capture or a threat it must answer — and strike where it no longer defends.
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, rook c6, bishop h4, pawn f2 g2 h3.
Black: king h5, rook d2, bishop d4, knight g5, pawn h6.
6 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 58.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (11 against 12; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on h5.
It is White to move on move 58, with 21 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 1. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, c, d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
58. g4+ Kxh4 59. Rxh6#
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to g4 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Well found: rook to h6 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Kxh4, then Rxh6# and it is mate.
Move by move
- 58. g4+ — pawn to g4 with check
- Kxh4 — king to h4 (capture)
- 59. Rxh6# — rook to h6 (capture) and it is checkmate
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.
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
Breakthrough
A pawn sacrifice tears the chain open and lets a passer through.
A breakthrough is a pawn sacrifice that rips the opponent's chain open and creates an unstoppable passer. Look for it where the pawns are locked against each other: often two pawns are given up so the third one slips through. Check the square rule — can the enemy king catch the new passer? If not, sacrifice with confidence; the classic error is breaking through while his king stands right there eating everything.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 007
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