Checkmate patterns
Mate in 1
Find the single move that ends the game immediately.
What is the mate in 1?
A mate-in-one asks for the one move that delivers checkmate right now — the king is attacked and has no legal reply: no escape, no block, no capture of the checker.
Why the mate in 1 matters
It sounds trivial, but mate-in-one is the foundation of all attacking vision. Drilling them builds instant recognition of mating shapes, so in a real game your eye snaps to the finish instead of wandering. Speed here means not missing wins under the clock.
How to use it to win
Check every check. List the moves that give check and test each for escape squares, blocks and captures. The mate is the check the king cannot answer — and the more shapes you have seen, the faster you find it.
Try an example puzzle
A real mate in 1 puzzle from the app. Black to move — find the idea, then reveal the line.
5 
g 
f a 8 Show solution
1. ... Qc3#
Drill the mate in 1 on thousands of real puzzles, matched to your rating.