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Questions tagged [checkmate]

Questions relating to checkmating.

51 votes
3 answers
17k views

How fast can checkmate occur by just moving the king?

How short can a game be in which (after the first move) one player moves only their king, and yet checkmates their opponent? This is assuming that the players cooperate, i.e. this is a kind of "...
Laska's user avatar
  • 13.1k
45 votes
2 answers
8k views

How is this position possible in a normal game of chess?

A friend of mine gave me this problem. It goes like this. In a normal game of chess, the white player checks the black's king with a rook and a bishop as in the following image. 8/8/8/8/8/7k/8/...
Faiq Irfan's user avatar
36 votes
6 answers
6k views

Is it possible to force checkmate with King, Knight, and Bishop vs. King?

If a King, Knight, and Bishop are pitted against the opposing King, is it possible to force checkmate? I find it very hard to do, enough so that I'm not sure whether there's a clean method.
Daniel's user avatar
  • 6,182
36 votes
3 answers
6k views

A mysterious mate in one

Here's a question that's a little off the usual format, but problem questions like this have been done before and are on topic, so here we go! Question: Can you find the mysterious mate in one? The ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
35 votes
13 answers
32k views

What are some checkmates with very few moves from the starting position?

I would like to learn about a few checkmates using very few moves. I know one where you develop the knight and march it directly towards the King. Does anyone know the name of this mate and suggest ...
Jay D's user avatar
  • 468
33 votes
3 answers
7k views

What is the highest number of different mates in 1 you can have in one (legal) position?

A friend and I yesterday asked ourselves what the highest number of possible mates in a (legal) position is. We were able to come up with the following position which has a total of 76 unique mates in ...
Simon Fromme's user avatar
32 votes
4 answers
200k views

Is it possible to checkmate with knight and king against king?

I would like to clarify two things: Is it possible to checkmate with only a knight and a king against a lone king? What will happen when one side has a king and knight and the other has just a king, ...
BlueBerry - Vignesh4303's user avatar
30 votes
9 answers
12k views

Why is it not a checkmate?

I am new to chess. I have tried to learn checkmate from the video lesson in chess24 website. There, in one question, it marked my answer wrong and said that it was not checkmate. Can anyone please ...
Cagnus Marlsen's user avatar
30 votes
5 answers
94k views

When you check someone, do you have to say "check"?

Yesterday I was playing with a friend, I was almost out of time, he checked me, didn't say anything, I didn't see the check as i was in a hurry to make my move. And I was mated. Computers don't let ...
Lynob's user avatar
  • 5,784
29 votes
4 answers
5k views

How can I prevent checkmate in this position?

It is White's turn to move. How can White avoid a checkmate? [FEN "8/1kpP2q1/1p2P1p1/1P3pP1/5p1K/5P2/6P1/R7 w - - 0 1"]
user23347's user avatar
  • 307
29 votes
4 answers
2k views

KBN vs K checkmate on nonstandard boards

I know how to win the endgame with bishop and knight, but it is a slippery process and seems to be just barely a win, with the enemy king very nearly escaping. For this reason, I am curious about ...
wim's user avatar
  • 644
28 votes
3 answers
5k views

On an infinite board, which pieces are needed to checkmate?

Most of the winnable endgames require cornering the opposing king to checkmate, often using zugzwang. However, if you have an infinite board (infinite in every direction), you won't be able to corner ...
Saat's user avatar
  • 391
28 votes
2 answers
37k views

How do you checkmate with the pair of bishops?

How do you checkmate with the pair of Bishops and King versus King? Are there any stalemates to look out for? What are the key ideas / positions / tricks to make it work? Thanks!
user avatar
27 votes
16 answers
9k views

Is it ethical to tell your opponent how you are going to checkmate them?

I play online chess at 3 days per move. I like to tell my opponents how I'm going to checkmate them if they will never win. That way, that I won't waste time continuing the game. I also like to be ...
Lynob's user avatar
  • 5,784
27 votes
6 answers
13k views

Why is this a checkmate?

I'm new to chess and I'm confused about a puzzle I was practicing. As you can see my black queen has put the white king in check, but I'm confused how this is possible if a rook is right next to my ...
Sandrine Lorin's user avatar

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