Mate in 2 Puzzles

Mate in 2 is the classic puzzle length: deep enough to hide a real idea, short enough to calculate to the very end. Find the first move, meet every reply, and deliver mate on the second — no loose ends allowed.

The first move is the whole battle. Sometimes it is a brutal check; often it is quieter — a sacrifice that drags a defender onto the wrong square, a piece sliding into position while the opponent watches helplessly with nothing useful to do. What makes the solution work is that every defense is already answered.

That is the skill these puzzles build: complete calculation. Not "this looks mating" but "every legal reply loses to a concrete move." It is exactly the discipline that separates an attack that wins from an attack that fizzles one tempo short.

Work method: forcing moves first — checks, captures, mate threats. For each candidate, list the opponent's replies and find your mate against each. If one defense survives, the candidate is wrong, however pretty.

Solve the puzzle on this page, taken from a real game, then train more mates in the trainer at your level.