Openings › Mate in one › July 2026 › Exercise 2 of 4
Mate in one: White to move (exercise m1-806a639d98)
White to move and mate in one. In this position White can give checkmate with one move. The position comes from a rated Lichess game of July 2026.
Last move: 36…Kg3 (Black's king from g4 to g3); its two squares are marked on the board.
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.
Hint 2: which square?
The mating move goes to f3.
Show the solution
One move gives checkmate:
- Rf3# (f1 to f3). After this move, the white rook on f3 gives check to the black king on g3, and Black has no legal move: checkmate. The black king on g3 has no safe square to go to (f2, f3, f4, g2, g4, h2, h3 and h4). f2 is covered by the white bishop on e3, the white rook on f3 and the white king on g1. f4 is covered by the white bishop on e3 and the white rook on f3. g4 is covered by the white pawn on h3. h2 is covered by the white king on g1. h4 is covered by the white rook on h7. The king may not take the white pawn on g2: the white king on g1 guards g2. The king may not take the white pawn on h3: the white rook on f3, the white pawn on g2 and the white rook on h7 guard h3. The white rook on f3 cannot be captured: the king may not take it, as the white pawn on g2 guards f3. The white rook on f3 stands right next to the king, so nothing can be put in between.
Our code tried every legal move of White in this position: this is the only move that gives checkmate.
The position as text
- White to move.
- Last move: 36…Kg3.
- White: king g1; rooks f1, h7; bishop e3; pawns a2, b4, e7, g2, h3.
- Black: king g3; rook e8; knight e4; pawns a6, d5, f5, g5.
- Castling: no longer allowed for either side.
- FEN:
4r3/4P2R/p7/3p1pp1/1P2n3/4B1kP/P5P1/5RK1 w - - 1 37
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 July 2026. From a game that began with the French Defense. In that game White 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.