The Rules
Checkmate
How the game ends
The idea
Checkmate is check the opponent cannot escape — they can't move the king, block the attack, or capture the attacker. The game ends immediately. "Mate" comes from the Persian "shah mat" meaning "the king is helpless". The simplest mate is the back-rank mate: a rook or queen on the 8th rank attacking the enemy king when his own pawns block him in.
Example 1 of 1
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White to play and mate in 1. The black king is locked in by his own pawns.
2
Try it
Your move
Deliver checkmate in one move.
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