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Chess960 puzzles: Counter-strike

Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.

The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.

3823 puzzles

Mate in 1: queen to h7
Shuffle Rating 601
Mate in 1: queen to h7 (d3)
Shuffle Rating 602
Mate in 1: rook to h5
Shuffle Rating 608
Mate in 1: queen to h2
Shuffle Rating 610
Mate in 1: queen to h7 (h3)
Shuffle Rating 613
Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g7 (f5·2)
Shuffle Rating 620
Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e7 (f5·2)
Shuffle Rating 620
Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e8 (b8)
Shuffle Rating 620
Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h7 (g5·5)
Shuffle Rating 620
Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e7
Shuffle Rating 620
Mate in 1: queen to g2 (g6)
Shuffle Rating 621
Back-rank mate in 2 on d1 (d8)
Shuffle Rating 623
Mate in 1: queen to e8
Shuffle Rating 628
Mate in 1: queen to h7 (c2)
Shuffle Rating 639
Mate in 1: rook to e8 (e1)
Shuffle Rating 653
Mate in 1: rook to d1
Shuffle Rating 657
Skewer: rook to g4
Shuffle Rating 666
Mate in 1: rook to h2 (f2)
Shuffle Rating 671
Mate in 1: queen to f7 (h5)
Shuffle Rating 673
Mate in 2: rook to f1 (f7)
Shuffle Rating 691
Mate in 1: queen to h2 (c7)
Shuffle Rating 692
Mate in 1: rook to e3
Shuffle Rating 694
Mate in 2: queen to e1 (e3)
Shuffle Rating 703
Mate in 1: rook to f8
Shuffle Rating 719

Defence