In this puzzle, whoever’s turn it is to move (white or black) can checkmate in one.
Congratulations!
Thank you to everyone who attempted this week’s puzzle. If you sent in your answers, you received at least 1 point. If you sent in at least one correct solution you received 2 points, and those who sent in two correct solutions received 3 points. This week, the following players received full marks for their solutions:
Melanie Norris
Dominic Walters
Aathiran Oyalood
Daniel Wright
This Week’s Solution
For white…
The black king doesn’t have as many escape squares as it might appear on first glance! The white king prevents black from moving to the second rank. The white rook on e1 prevents the king occupying anywhere on the e file, and the white knight is preventing the king from moving up to f4. His only escape would be to g3.
Attacking f3 and g3 together is as simple as moving our unused h1 rook up to the 3rd rank, therefore Rh3++ is our solution.
For black…
This solution is a little more unusual! The white king is prevented from moving to any of the squares around him in this position. The black king stops white advancing, and the black squared bishop on a7 attacks all the way from the other side of the board stopping the king from shifting to g7. The black knight could deliver two checks – either from e3 or h2 – but both these squares are guarded by rooks. If the black bishop captures the white knight on d3 with check, it can be recaptured by the pawn, therefore this cannot be our solution either.
The check must therefore come from the rook! The rook is already perfectly in line with the white king, but is blocked by its own king, so moving the king out of the way looks like it will be our answer – Kg3++ is our solution this week.
What To Do Next
Tomorrow you will be able find next week’s puzzle on our blog. The puzzler with the highest score at the end will win a free chess lesson with the teacher of their choice and a solver badge and spot/two solver spots. Our runners up will receive a solver badge or a solver spot if they already have a badge. Consistently sending in your results is key to winning so make sure you subscribe below to get notified about the checkmate puzzles the moment they are published.
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