Mate in 1: double attack on c4
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The tactical motive
Double attack: one move creates two threats at once.
Mate in 1: find the move after which the enemy king has no escape.
Difficulty 1798 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A double attack threatens two things at once so the opponent cannot parry both. Look for a single move — often a queen or knight — that creates two separate threats, such as a check plus an attack on a loose piece.
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 e2, queen d1, rook c1 h1, bishop b1 d2, knight h3, pawn a2 h2 b3 f3 g3.
Black: king g8, rook b8 e8, bishop d4 e6, knight b4, pawn c5 g6 f7 h7.
12 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 10 points of material (33 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 23, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: a, b.
The Black king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
23... Bc4#
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to c4 keeps the pressure (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 1.
Move by move
- 23… Bc4# — bishop to c4 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Boden's mate
Two bishops cross their diagonals over a king blocked by its own pieces.
Boden's mate crosses two bishop diagonals over a king blocked by its own pieces. The classic victim has castled on the queenside: its own rook and pawns have stolen the escape squares, and the bishops slash crosswise. The trigger is usually a queen sacrifice that blasts open the second diagonal. Whenever the enemy king is boxed in by its friends, ask whether both of your bishops can reach it on crossing diagonals.
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.
Double-check mate
Double check leaves only king moves — and there are none.
The double-check mate ends the game with check from two pieces at once, leaving the king with nothing. Neither capturing nor blocking works against a double check — only a king move, and here there is none. Look for a discovered check where the front piece checks too: it may even land on a defended square with total impunity. That is why the double check crowns so many of the most beautiful sacrificial combinations.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 013
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