Mate in 2: rook to f3 (f1·2)
li-0Jb6snaming tag (square·N)The tactical motive
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1945 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king g1, rook f1 d6, pawn b2 g2 h3 c5 e5.
Black: king g3, queen a2, rook c8, bishop a6, pawn b4 g5 h6 d7 f7.
8 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31. Rf3+ Kh4 32. Rxh6#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to f3 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Well found: rook to h6 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Kh4, then Rxh6# 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).
Pack 014
Similar puzzles
Free, no ads · Android 8.0+ · coming soon to Google Play