Daily Chess Puzzle
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Today's puzzle:
Today's chess puzzle: White to move and give checkmate in 2 moves. Here is the position; the winning move stays in the puzzle.
White: King e2, Rooks c5 e5, Knight a6. Black: King d4, Knights d8 a3.
Position (FEN): 3n4/8/N7/2R1R3/3k4/n7/4K3/8 w - - 0 1
Every day brings a new hand-picked chess position with one clean idea: find the move that ends it. Our daily chess puzzle is a quick mate-in-one (with tougher days mixed in) you can solve in under a minute, and it makes a perfect morning warm-up or a calm break.
How to play
- Find the move that delivers immediate checkmate.
- Any move that mates counts, so there's no single trick to guess.
- Sign in and your solve time joins the daily leaderboard.
How to find a checkmate
Start with checks. A check is a move that attacks the enemy king, and every checkmate is a check, so list every check you can make before you think about anything else. For each one ask three questions. Can the king step away? Can the checking piece be captured? Can anything block the line? If the answer to all three is no, you have found mate.
Then look at captures and threats. A capture can remove the one piece that guards an escape square. A threat, such as attacking a defender, can force a reply that opens the door. In a mate in one, one of the checks always works. In a mate in two, the first move is often a sacrifice or a quiet move that leaves the king with no safe reply.
Common patterns repeat. The back rank mate, where a rook or queen checks along the first or eighth row and the king is boxed in by its own pawns, is the most frequent. The smothered mate uses a knight against a king hemmed in by its own pieces. Learning a handful of these patterns turns most puzzles into recognition.
Reading the position
Under the puzzle we print the position in FEN, the standard text format for a chess board. It lists the ranks from the eighth row down to the first, with a slash between rows. Capital letters are White pieces and lower case letters are Black. A number means that many empty squares in a row. After the board, a w or b says whose turn it is.
For example, 6k1/5ppp/8/8/8/8/5PPP/R5K1 w means six empty squares, a black king, and one empty square on the top row, then three black pawns on the next row, and so on down to a white rook and king on the bottom row. White to move, and the rook can slide to the top row for checkmate.
How the game scores you
Tap a piece to see its legal squares, then tap where it goes, or drag it. Any legal move that gives checkmate is accepted. On a longer puzzle, your opponent's replies are played for you. A wrong move slides back and adds a time penalty. The Hint button marks a piece to move and costs the same kind of penalty. The clock only runs while the puzzle is on screen.
Only the live puzzle for today counts for the leaderboard. Older puzzles from the archive are practice. The board turns so that your side is always at the bottom, and a pawn that reaches the last row becomes a queen.
Past puzzles and related games
Missed one? Browse past chess puzzle puzzles, or see all of today's daily puzzles. If you like deduction with a clear answer, try the logic puzzles category, the Daily Mini Lineup, or the Daily Dungeon, which asks for planning rather than calculation.
Common questions
How do you solve a mate in 2?
Look for a forcing first move, usually a check, a capture or a sacrifice, that leaves the enemy king only bad replies. Then work out each reply and check that you have a mating move after every one of them. In this game the opponent's reply is played automatically, so you only enter your two moves.
What is the difference between check and checkmate?
Check means the king is under attack and the player must deal with it. Checkmate means the king is under attack and there is no way out: it cannot move to a safe square, the attacker cannot be captured, and the attack cannot be blocked. Checkmate ends the game.
What is the FEN under the puzzle?
FEN is a short line of text that describes a chess position. Pasting it into any chess program or analysis board sets up the same position, so you can study the puzzle on your own board after you have solved it.
How hard are the puzzles?
Most days are a clean mate in one. Difficulty varies through the week: on some days the mate jumps straight out at you, on others the idea hides behind a sacrifice or a quiet piece. If any legal move delivers mate, it counts.
Can I play yesterday's puzzle?
Yes. The archive keeps every past Zip Mate playable, you just won't land on the live daily leaderboard for an old date. For unlimited untimed chess puzzles, Practice mode has you covered.
Puzzles edited by the team at Final Boss Editing.
Chess Puzzle terms
Chess puzzle
A chess position set up with a task, such as finding the checkmate in one move, taken from a real or composed game. More in the glossary
White to move
In a chess puzzle, the white pieces are the ones you control and it is your turn. More in the glossary
Black to move
In a chess puzzle, the black pieces are the ones you control and it is your turn. More in the glossary
Check
A move that attacks the enemy king, so the other side must deal with it right away. More in the glossary
Checkmate
A check the king cannot escape by moving, blocking or capturing. The game ends and the side that gave it wins. More in the glossary
Mate in one
A chess puzzle where a single move delivers checkmate. More in the glossary
Mate in two
A chess puzzle where you force checkmate on your second move, whatever the opponent replies. More in the glossary
Back rank mate
A checkmate on the first or eighth row, where a rook or queen checks a king boxed in by its own pawns. More in the glossary
FEN
A line of text that describes a chess position: the pieces row by row, then whose turn it is. More in the glossary