Chess Mate Finder

How to play

1. 1Choose Mate in 1, Mate in 2, or Mate in 3.
2. 2Pick Warmup, Regular, or Hard, then choose all themes or a specific tactic motif.
3. 3Select one of your pieces on the board, then select its destination square.
4. 4For mate-in-2 and mate-in-3 puzzles, the opponent reply is played automatically after a correct move.
5. 5Complete the line until the final move checkmates the king.

Rules

• Only legal chess moves are accepted.
• The puzzle accepts the intended forcing line for the selected position.
• Hard mode prioritizes positions with more candidate moves and checks to compare.
• You move only the attacking side; opponent replies are automatic in longer puzzles.
• Use Reset to return the board to the starting position.

Scoring

• The goal is to solve the puzzle line correctly.
• Completed puzzles are saved locally in this browser.
• Attempts and solved puzzle counts stay on the device.
• This solo mode does not use a public leaderboard or account-based rating.

Tips and strategy

• Start by checking every available forcing check.
• Look for trapped kings, overloaded defenders, pinned pieces, and back-rank weaknesses.
• In longer lines, calculate the opponent reply before moving.
• Use hints only after trying to name the candidate move yourself.

Puzzle types

Depth

Choose Mate in 1, Mate in 2, or Mate in 3 depending on how many attacking moves you want to calculate.

Difficulty

Warmup favors simpler positions, Regular keeps the source order, and Hard starts with busier positions that have more candidate moves.

Tactic themes

Filter for motifs such as back-rank mates, sacrifices, pins, deflections, discovered attacks, and smothered mates.

What to look for

• Check candidate moves first: forcing checks often reduce the defender's choices.
• Look for pinned pieces, trapped kings, and back-rank weaknesses.
• Treat sacrifices seriously when they pull the king onto a mating square.
• Use the hint button only after calculating the line once yourself.