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I am extremely new to chess and have been working through some "mate in one" problems on chesspuzzles.com for practice. This one has me very confused though:

A mate in on chess problem

The stated answer is:

Bg6#

But why? Can't black's king move to d8 or e7 after that? I feel like I must be missing something very obvious, but can't for the life of me see what it is...

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  • 2
    You are missing a piece. 😉
    – xehpuk
    Dec 31, 2022 at 0:12

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You are absolutely right! The black king can move to d8 and e7 and then there's no follow up mate. Most probably there's a white queen/bishop on h4 to prevent the black king from escaping (which is not shown in the figure). In that case, Bg6# is a checkmate.

[Title "Mate in One"]
[FEN "r1b1kb1r/pp1n2p1/1qp1p2p/8/2PP3Q/3B1N2/P4PPP/R4RK1 w Qkq - 0 1"]
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    Given the difference in material, most likely a queen.
    – Glorfindel ♦
    Dec 30, 2022 at 8:05
  • I'd guess a bishop that chased away the black queen from her starting square. I wonder if this is some known opening trap.
    – Sir Cornflakes
    Dec 30, 2022 at 10:04
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    I suspect a sacrifice on e6 with queen and black bishop on h4 or g5 most probably g5?. Bg5 h6.qxe6 fxe6 bg6
    – cmgchess
    Dec 30, 2022 at 10:29
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    @cmgchess White bishop I presume, not black bishop, but yes, that looks plausible as a way White could lose the queen, and it explains bPh6.
    – Rosie F
    Dec 30, 2022 at 17:22
  • 6
    So the answer is really "the puzzle is wrong"?
    – John Gordon
    Dec 31, 2022 at 19:45

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