Questions tagged [checkmate]
Questions relating to checkmating.
330
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My opponent won despite his king having no legal moves
My opponent won despite his king having no legal moves. Why?
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Longest sequence of unique legal moves for one player, always in check and ending in checkmate
I recently played a bullet game, in which I thought I was in checkmate, but then realized I had one legal move, this then repeated again and again 6 times until ultimately I was in checkmate. I share ...
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Has checkmate ever been achieved by castling queenside in a high-level game?
This is to complement the kingside variant of that question
Has checkmate ever been achieved by a castling queen side in a high-level game?
4
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1
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Has checkmate ever been achieved by castling kingside in a high-level game?
Has checkmate ever been achieved by castling kingside in a high-level game?
I asked an AI large language model, but it listed games which certainly didn't achieve checkmate with castling kingside. I ...
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Is there any sequence of premoves that guarantees checkmate in the King + Queen vs King endgame?
King + Queen vs. King is perhaps the most basic winning endgame and known to be mate in at most ten moves. However, I am wondering if there is any sequence of premoves that guarantees checkmate? For ...
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Most "heavy" model mate in a game
A model mate, to recall, is a mate where
a) any flight (including the standing place) of the enemy king is attacked exactly once;
b) no friendly piece (except king and pawns) idles around.
c) (...
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2
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136
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Why is this the wrong move?
I am new to chess. I am playing puzzles on chess.com. I made a move which I thought was checkmate, but it tells me I made the wrong move.
It looks to me like the King is in check by the bishop. But no ...
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2
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1
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71
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Rook and promoted Bishop vs Rook endgame--forced win or draw?
I've recently been trying to learn the queen vs rook and rook and bishop vs rook endgames, and I've found it interesting how close the margin of victory vs draw is. I was thinking about whether the ...
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On an Torodial board, which pieces are needed to checkmate?
I saw this question On an infinite board, which pieces are needed to checkmate? and was inspired by it.
Many mating combinations won't suffice on a toroidal board.
For example, queen vs king will be a ...
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2
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1
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118
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Minimal forced checkmate
A forced checkmate is a situation in which the player whose turn it is has only legal moves which put the other player in checkmate.
I’m searching for the minimal forced checkmate (the smallest amount ...
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259
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How to checkmate with king + two knights vs king + pawn
King + two knights vs a king is a book draw, as the knights cannot get the enemy king into a checkmating position (only a stalemating position), because of the inherent clumsy nature of the knight. ...
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What is the required material to force a king move checkmate?
A fun thing to do is to try to achieve specific "achievements" (like these) in real games.
One such achievement is to checkmate with a king move. As the king itself obviously can't deliver ...
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89
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How can I mate the black king in 4 moves or less (helpmate)
In this helpmate puzzle, it is White to move.
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4
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Is there a position with the stupidest possible move?
I define a stupid move as a move that
puts the opponent in zugzwang so that all their moves result in mate in one (weaker version: a loss);
is chosen instead of a move that gives mate in one (weaker ...
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Number of checkmate positions
How many different checkmate positions are there? A Super-Computer problem. Not with any conditions or hypothetical situations, just simply the number of checkmates that can be arrived at in a ...
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2
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Most different mate-in-N depending on black's move
The puzzle (this may have a known answer) is to construct a position such that:
If Black makes move A, it's mate in 1 for white.
If Black makes move B, it's mate in 2 for white.
...
If Black makes ...
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1
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216
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Why does Stockfish miss mate in 5 with only two legal moves?
I'm interested to understand what is going on for Stockfish on Lichess here. There are only two legal moves for Black, and it gives the position mate-in-14 for white.
When asked to play its ...
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I don't understand why this scenario is checkmate. The black rook cannot move, as it's protecting black king. Can someone explain? See photo [duplicate]
So in this scenario the White Queen put the black king in check, which was then blocked by the black rook. So, how is it that the black queen moving to the position of F1 is considered checkmate? The ...
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Was taking the King ever legal and when did it become illegal? [duplicate]
My sense from a Benjamin Franklin chess anecdote (he takes his opponent's king and says, In America, we take kings!) is that in the 1700s, taking a king if your opponent allowed it, was not illegal or ...
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100
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Testing Mate Possibility Without Use of King
I would like to be able to convince myself of the possibility (or lack thereof) of mate using various piece combinations in which the attacker doesn't use their own king.
I'd like to approach this by ...
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Why is this a Checkmate? Pawn can capture queen?
I am just learning Chess. Why is this a checkmate? It's Black's turn, and White's queen threatens Black's king, so check. But if I play gxf8, the check is gone. Why doesn't the game let me do it?
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Find a forced checkmate on dark squares only
In a recent Youtube video, the black player reaches the following position
[White "NN"]
[Black "Chess Simp"]
[FEN "r2r4/ppp2p1k/2n4P/4p3/P3n3/B1P1P2P/P1qPK2P/R6R b - - 0 1&...
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210
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Shortest game to "elegant" mate
Define an "elegant" checkmate as one in which
the king is not on the edge of the board
the king and each of the 8 squares surrounding it are each attacked by exactly one, different opponent ...
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2
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2
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160
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Puzzle: Forced game end in at most two halfmoves
Compose a position where
It's White to move
White can deliver checkmate or stalemate in 1 move
Or if they make a different move, then Black can deliver checkmate or stalemate in one 1 move
I needed ...
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139
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How many moves to checkmate in the initial position with all Black pieces captured?
From the above position, black player lost (by mistakes) all of its pieces after his 15th move. How many more moves shall the black king have before it is checkmated by white if it is black' move?
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Can a player in check win, by checkmating the opponent, while not getting themselves out of check?
Consider a player who is in check. Suppose they can make a move that would checkmate the opponent, but would not stop themselves from being in check. Would that be a legal move?
For example, in the ...
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What is the name of this mating motif?
Anyone know the name of this motif? I have seen it several times, but never knew the name. Source Polgar 5334 problems.
Can one classify this as a Legal's trap motif due to the famous Queen sacrifice(...
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2
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171
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How do you remember mates with names?
I am working on the Yusupov series. In the first book he introduces Anastasia and Arabian among others. What I am a little uncertain about is the following issues.
How do you remember them?
How do ...
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2
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109
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Rules of Checkmate [duplicate]
I’ve attached a picture of the board configuration of an end game. Black wins this game by checkmate, however, I’m wondering how this is valid checkmate?
To my understanding, checkmate occurs when a ...
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What is the DTM for White is this 7 piece position?
I know that is winning for White because of the Syzygy tablebases. But Stockfish 14.1 NNUE, without tablebases, returns an evaluation of only +3.23 at depth =72(!). What is White's DTM?
[FEN "8/...
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2
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Need Techniques for Bishop and Knight Checkmate
I understand the process for how to checkmate once in this position:
[fen "7k/8/5K2/5B2/5N2/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
But I need a technique for reliably getting into that kind of position from, ...
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1
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505
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What is the largest n such that discrete forced mate in one through mate in "n" exist?
This is admittedly a bit of an obscure question, so I apologize for the awkward wording of the question. To begin, assume you are playing as White, and that a "forcing move" is any move that ...
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214
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Average number of moves until checkmate for two players of unequal strenth
Suppose a game is played, until checkmate, between players of unequal strength, say 1800 vs 2800. What would be the average number of moves be for, say, 1000 games? I also ponder 2000 vs 2800 and 2200 ...
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2
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Could FIDE make a rule allowing for a visual announcement of check and checkmate?
Using verbal methods in announcing check and checkmate in tournaments is, for the arbiters, the players etc, unpleasant. But, on the other hand, prohibiting any means for an announcement is annoying ...
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What is the longest possible forced checkmate sequence?
As title says. My question is about legal positions (positions which could be reached in actual games), but if there is a known solution with an illegal position to start the sequence, I'd be ...
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Strategy to win with a king and queen against a king and pawn about to promote?
I've been doing puzzles on a site and like to continue practicing against the computer. In many of the puzzles I end up with a situation like this where I was able to promote my black pawn to a queen ...
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2
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Why do people say you can't mate with just a bishop? [closed]
I mean, looks pretty checkmate to me.
Everywhere I look this up, they never speak about the fact that it is at least theoretically possible to win with just a bishop and a king. Why is that? I mean ...
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2
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Why can white not mate in this position?
In the attached position, why can't white mate?
Is it not possible to go Rxc6 and depending on blacks response go Rxc6.
[FEN "4r1k1/1p3ppp/2b5/5n2/pp6/8/P4PPP/2R1R1K1 w - - 0 1"]
Source: ...
1
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2
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Is this king in checkmate?
Consider this chess board set up:
Is the black king allowed to move to B4 or D4? The knight on C6 would put their white king in check if it moves.
I haven't really read any rules about this so ...
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131
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The fastest dualed mates in n
Hauke Reddmann asked a cool question about the quickest dual-free mates in n's from the starting position. But this is a rather limited scope. I wish to attack this idea from a different angle. What ...
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Can there be a checkmate with maximum points of material (103) while covering 64 squares?
Is it possible to compose a game where these three conditions are simultaneously satisfied?
No White piece is gone but every Black piece except the king is.
All the white pawns are promoted to a ...
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3
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Is there a name for this mating pattern?
What's the name of the mating pattern starting with the move 21...Ng4!?
[FEN ""]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. d5 e6 4. e4 exd5 5. exd5 d6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Bb5+ Nbd7 8. a4 O-O 9. O-O b6 10. Bc6 Rb8 ...
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Would there be more decisive games if we began to see stalemates as checkmates? And hence more "interesting" chess? [closed]
I think it is up for debate as to whether a stalemate should be a win or a draw. I agree stalemates make beginner chess more interesting but we rarely see games at international level end in stalemate....
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Longest forced win after 3 moves
It is possible to reach (exactly) #8 after just 3 moves:
[Title "#8 after 3 moves"]
[FEN ""]
1. e3 f6 2. Qf3 Kf7 3. Nh3 Qe8! 4. Ng5+ Kg6 5. Bd3+ Kxg5 6. Qf4+ Kh5 7. g4+ Kh4 8. Qg3+...
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Can there be a position in which a player blocks check with checkmate?
Let's say that the first player gives a check to the second. player. Then the second player blocks and gives a checkmate. Is it possible?
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Why can white not mate in this position from Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess (frame 73)?
[Event ""]
[Site "https://www.apronus.com/chess/wbeditor.php"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6rk/p5p1/1q2Q3/3p4/6P1/8/2b2PK1/4R3 w - - 0 1"]
I'm fairly new to anything ...
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Moving absolutely pinned piece to give checkmate: has this ever occured in a master game?
We know that an absolutely pinned piece (a piece pinned against its own king) can move and give a check, and the check can even be a mate.
The following is an example of such a checkmate.
[FEN "8/...
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votes
1
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238
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Is KQB vs KP generally sufficient to force a selfmate?
User Hauke Reddmann noted in a previous answer that there should be a straightforward way to secure selfmate against a substantially weaker opponent (i.e., force them to checkmate you):
win all the ...
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1
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Term for checkmate where every participating piece attacks exactly one square around king
I am looking for the term for a checkmate position which is an aesthetic feature for a chess composition. It is closely related to pure mate. I shall say that a piece (incl. pawn) participates in the ...
- 1,094
4
votes
2
answers
925
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Longest *shortest available* fixed sequence of moves leading to checkmate?
What is the longest fixed sequence of consecutive moves you can find in any legal position that
guarantees checkmating the opponent regardless of their responses (whether by forcing particular ...
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