Openings › Mate in one › July 2026 › Exercise 1 of 4
Mate in one: White to move (exercise m1-d653db2185)
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: 10…Ne7 (Black's knight from d5 to e7); 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 knight move.
Hint 2: which square?
The mating move goes to d6.
Show the solution
One move gives checkmate:
- Nxd6# (e4 to d6). After this move, the white knight on d6 gives check to the black king on e8, and Black has no legal move: checkmate. The black king on e8 has no safe square to go to: its own pieces fill every square next to it (bishop on d7, queen on d8, knight on e7, pawn on f7 and bishop on f8). No black piece can capture the white knight on d6. A knight's check cannot be blocked.
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: 10…Ne7.
- White: king g1; queen d1; rooks a1, f1; bishop c1; knights e4, f3; pawns a2, b2, c4, d2, f2, g2, h2.
- Black: king e8; queen d8; rooks b8, h8; bishops d7, f8; knight e7; pawns a7, c5, c6, d6, f7, g7, h7.
- Castling: still allowed for Black on the king's side.
- FEN:
1r1qkb1r/p2bnppp/2pp4/2p5/2P1N3/5N2/PP1P1PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w k - 1 11
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 Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations. 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.