Red moves and mates in 1
Mate in 1, proven against every defence.
Red is to move and forces mate in 1. Black is not helpless: there are nothing but the General still on the board, and every legal defence has been tried against this solution. All of them lose.
The position
Red attacks with a horse and 2 cannons, and Black's General stands on f10. Black's defenders: nothing but the General.
- Mate in 1
- Horse finish
- Rating 1333
Red moves first. Find the move that forces mate whatever Black replies, then open the solution below.
Show the solution
傌 e10–d8 is the only move that wins. Look at what it does: it removes 1 escape point from the General.
The line
- Red傌 e10–d8Checkmate.
Mate is immediate: no flight square, no capture and no block.
Why it is mate
A horse delivering mate beside the palace is the shape players call the trough horse, 卧槽马: it checks and covers escape points at the same time, and because a horse cannot be blocked by a piece in its path once it has landed, only capture or flight would help.
Read about this patternHow this puzzle was checked
Nothing here is an engine opinion. The position was solved by trying every legal defence to the full mate distance, so the claim that Red mates in 1 is a proof rather than an evaluation, and the first move shown is the only one that works. The defence in the line above is Black’s most stubborn try, not a convenient one.
Next puzzles
- Find the mate in 2x0644 · rating 1707
- Find the mate in 2x0642 · rating 1783
- Find the mate in 1x0645 · rating 1156
- Red to play, mate in 1x0641 · rating 1244
- Find the mate in 1x0646 · rating 1287
- Red to play, mate in 1x0640 · rating 1219
New to mating patterns? The glossary names the ones that come up again and again, the piece guides explain what each piece can do, and the rules page covers everything from the start.