Mate in 1 Puzzles: Developing Level

By the numbers

mate in 1 puzzles at developing level: the numbers

There are 135,339 mate in 1 puzzles at developing level, solved 167,074,697 times in total. The median rating is 1350.

Often combined with

Checkmate · 135,339Middlegame tactics · 66,066Endgame tactics · 58,538Kingside attack · 14,489Opening tactics · 10,735Pin · 7,178Rook endgame tactics · 5,509Opera mate · 4,103Hanging piece · 3,980Attacks on f2 / f7 · 3,505

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 5,418Caro–Kann Defence · 2,254French Defence · 2,125Italian Game · 2,038Queen's Pawn Game · 1,991Scandinavian Defense · 1,904Queen's Gambit Declined · 1,278English Opening · 1,113

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 developing level (1.5% of all 135,339).

100% need 1 solver move. Median rating: 1343 for the shortest solutions, 1343 for the longest.

56.7% open with a queen move. The first move captures in 31.2% and gives check in 100%; 100% end in checkmate, 0% involve a sacrifice, 53.6% 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 (9.9%), g7 (9.7%), h7 (8.7%), h8 (5.2%), f8 (5%).

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