Mate in 2: queen to f2 (b6·5)
li-06Bhjnaming tag (square·N)The tactical motive
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1451 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
Black to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king h2, queen b3, rook d1 d6, pawn f3 g3 c6.
Black: king e7, queen b6, rook a8, pawn b5 f5 a6 e6 f7.
7 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
Solution & explanation
Main line
26... Qf2+ 27. Kh3 Rh8#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f2 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Well found: rook to h8 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Kh3, then Rh8# 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 011
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