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Mate in 2 chess puzzles

You checkmate in two moves, whatever your opponent does in between.

The first move is often a check or a sacrifice that drags the king or a defender onto a bad square. Count your opponent's replies: a true mate in 2 works against every one of them.

8 real puzzles from games on Lichess, easiest first, rated 490 to 2538. The course has 2,776 mate in 2 puzzles in all.

Puzzle 1 · rated 490

♜♛♜♝♟♚♟♟♙♗♟♞♙♙♖♙♙♙♖♔

Black just played Kxh7. White to move.

Solve it on the board

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28. Rh3+ Qh5 29. Rxh5#

Puzzle 2 · rated 867

♚♜♜♟♟♟♞♛♕♘♟♟♙♟♟♙♙♙♙♙♙♔♖♖

Black just played b6. White to move.

Solve it on the board

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20. Qa6+ Kb8 21. Qb7#

Puzzle 3 · rated 1095

♖♔♖♙♙♙♘♙♟♙♟♕♝♗♞♛♟♟♚

White just played Nxg3. Black to move.

Solve it on the board

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28... Qxg3+ 29. Kf1 Bc4#

Puzzle 4 · rated 1307

♜♙♖♟♟♟♜♚♟♙♙♙♖♔

Black just played Kd4. White to move.

Solve it on the board

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42. Rd2+ Kc3 43. Rb3#

Puzzle 5 · rated 1517

♕♟♝♟♜♚♝♟♛♗♔♙

Black just played e4. White to move.

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59. Qh4+ Kf5 60. Qf4#

Puzzle 6 · rated 1715

♔♗♖♙♙♙♛♜♙♙♟♟♘♝♟♟♚♟♟♕

White just played Qxa8. Black to move.

Solve it on the board

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25... Qd1+ 26. Kg2 Bh3#

Puzzle 7 · rated 1953

♛♙♔♙♖♟♟♟♚♕

White just played Kg3. Black to move.

Solve it on the board

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46... h4+ 47. Kxh4 Qg5#

Puzzle 8 · rated 2538

♛♙♙♙♔♙♟♟♟♚♟♕

White just played Qxb7. Black to move.

Solve it on the board

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39... Qg6+ 40. Kf4 Qg5#

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Puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0). Every line was replayed move by move by the course's rules engine. Part of Chess Path, a free chess course. Free coach for your Chess.com and Lichess games.