Mate in 2: bishop to f6 (g5·2)
li-0H9pGnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1889 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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, queen d5, bishop g5, pawn b2 g2 a3 f4.
Black: king h8, queen e2, rook e3, pawn a6 h6 b7.
7 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 45.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (16 against 17; 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 h8.
It is White to move on move 45, with 35 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: h.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
45. Bf6+ Kh7 46. Qf7#
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to f6 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Well found: queen to f7 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Kh7, then Qf7# and it is mate.
Move by move
- 45. Bf6+ — bishop to f6 with check
- Kh7 — king to h7
- 46. Qf7# — queen to f7 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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 014
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