Mate in 1 Puzzles: Challenging Level

By the numbers

mate in 1 puzzles at challenging level: the numbers

There are 24,842 mate in 1 puzzles at challenging level, solved 47,786,039 times in total. The median rating is 1697.

Often combined with

Checkmate · 24,842Middlegame tactics · 12,616Endgame tactics · 10,917Pin · 2,165Kingside attack · 1,536Opening tactics · 1,309Discovered check · 1,031Hanging piece · 683Pillsbury's mate · 672Double check · 616

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 869French Defence · 393Italian Game · 347Caro–Kann Defence · 339Queen's Pawn Game · 321Scandinavian Defense · 263Queen's Gambit Declined · 179Indian Defence · 178

Counts computed from the full puzzle set.

How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine

What a typical mate in 1 solution looks like

Sample: 2,000 mate in 1 puzzles at challenging level (8.1% of all 24,842).

100% need 1 solver move. Median rating: 1696 for the shortest solutions, 1696 for the longest.

46.6% open with a queen move. The first move captures in 21.7% and gives check in 100%; 100% end in checkmate, 0% involve a sacrifice, 54.6% have White to move.

How many moves does the solver need?

Which piece plays the key move?

What does the solver win?

Material balance along the whole line, counting every capture by both sides (pawn 1, minor piece 3, rook 5, queen 9):

How much is left on the board?

How it is counted: every puzzle in the sample is replayed move by move with a chess rules engine. A sacrifice means a piece that is captured on the very next ply and was worth more than what it captured itself (pawn 1, minor piece 3, rook 5, queen 9). Sample of 2,000 puzzles. Percentages are shares of the sample.

Where it happens

Where the key move lands

Where the solver’s first move ends, drawn from their own side (rank 1 is their back rank). Busiest squares: f7 (5.7%), f8 (5.4%), h6 (4.9%), g6 (4.6%), g7 (4.6%).

Counted from the same 2,000-puzzle sample. Squares under 1% are left blank.