Mate in One · Top score · All-time

• Tap the square that gives checkmate, or drag the piece onto it. If the enemy king cannot escape, it topples and you score.
• A move that is not mate costs five seconds and your streak; an arrow shows how the king gets out, and the position stays for one more try. After two misses the mate is shown and the next puzzle appears.
• Solve as many puzzles as you can before the 90-second clock runs out. The positions get harder every few puzzles.

• Look at every check first. A checkmate is always a check, so listing the checks you can give narrows the search to a handful of moves.
• Count the king's escape squares. The mating move is the check that also covers every square the king could flee to, or leaves it boxed in by its own pieces.
• Do not guess to save time. A wrong move costs five seconds and resets your streak multiplier, which is worth more than a few seconds of thought.

All-time keeps each player’s best since the board opened. This week starts again every Monday at midnight New York time.

Equal scores share a place, and the run finished first is listed first.

A run records only your inputs. Our server plays them again with the same game code, and only a score the replay matches is verified.

The board lists every player, guests under their generated name. Sign in with Google or Apple from a result to keep your scores and pick your own name. Bots, scripts and other automated or assisted play are not allowed (see our terms of use).