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Openings › Mate in one › January 2026 › Exercise 1 of 4

Mate in one: Black to move (exercise m1-7b34d98c3e)

Black to move and mate in one. In this position Black can give checkmate with one move. The position comes from a rated Lichess game of January 2026.

Last move: 42.Rfe1 (White's rook from f1 to e1); its two squares are marked on the board.

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Pick a piece, then its square. Keyboard: Tab to the board, arrow keys to move, Enter or Space to pick.

Hint 1: which piece?

Look for a rook move or a bishop move.

Hint 2: which square?

A mating move goes to h2 or f3.

Show the solution

Two moves give checkmate:

  1. Rh2# (c2 to h2). After this move, the black rook on h2 gives check to the white king on h1, and White has no legal move: checkmate. The white king on h1 has no safe square to go to (g1, g2 and h2). g1 is covered by the black bishop on e3. g2 is covered by the black rook on b2 and the black rook on h2. The black rook on h2 cannot be captured: the king may not take it, as the black rook on b2 guards h2. The black rook on h2 stands right next to the king, so nothing can be put in between.
  2. Bxf3# (d5 to f3). After this move, the black bishop on f3 gives check to the white king on h1, and White has no legal move: checkmate. The white king on h1 has no safe square to go to (g1, g2 and h2). g1 is covered by the black bishop on e3. g2 is covered by the black rook on c2 and the black bishop on f3. h2 is covered by the black rook on c2. No white piece can capture the black bishop on f3. No white piece can move to g2 to block the check.

Our code tried every legal move of Black in this position: these are the only moves that give checkmate.

The position as text

Where this exercise comes from

The position comes from a rated game in our sample of the Lichess open database (CC0 1.0), from the monthly file of January 2026. From a game that began with the Zukertort Opening: Tennison Gambit. In that game Black gave checkmate with the next move. We show no player names and no link to the game. Our code tried every legal move of the position and lists every move that gives checkmate; the list, the hints and the explanations are checked again each time the site is built. How the exercises are chosen: Mate in one and How it works.