Basic "mate in one move" puzzle - what am I missing?

Question

I am extremely new to chess and have been working through some "mate in one" problems on chesspuzzles.com for practice. This one has me very confused though:

The stated answer is:

Bg6#

But why? Can't black's king move to d8 or e7 after that? I feel like I must be missing something very obvious, but can't for the life of me see what it is...

You are missing a piece. 😉 – xehpuk Dec 31 '22 at 00:12 — xehpuk, Dec 31 '22 at 00:12

Abhyuday Vaish · Answer 1 · 2022-12-30T02:00:25.063

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You are absolutely right! The black king can move to d8 and e7 and then there's no follow up mate. Most probably there's a white queen/bishop on h4 to prevent the black king from escaping (which is not shown in the figure). In that case, Bg6# is a checkmate.

[Title "Mate in One"]
[FEN "r1b1kb1r/pp1n2p1/1qp1p2p/8/2PP3Q/3B1N2/P4PPP/R4RK1 w Qkq - 0 1"]

edited Dec 30 '22 at 02:00

answered Dec 30 '22 at 01:50

Abhyuday Vaish

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Given the difference in material, most likely a queen. – Glorfindel Dec 30 '22 at 08:05
I'd guess a bishop that chased away the black queen from her starting square. I wonder if this is some known opening trap. – Sir Cornflakes Dec 30 '22 at 10:04
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I suspect a sacrifice on e6 with queen and black bishop on h4 or g5 most probably g5?. Bg5 h6.qxe6 fxe6 bg6 – cmgchess Dec 30 '22 at 10:29
Could also be a white knight on c6 instead of the black pawn. – Darrel Hoffman Dec 30 '22 at 14:55
@cmgchess: +1, my first idea too. – Hauke Reddmann Dec 30 '22 at 16:30
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@cmgchess White bishop I presume, not black bishop, but yes, that looks plausible as a way White could lose the queen, and it explains bPh6. – Rosie F Dec 30 '22 at 17:22
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So the answer is really "the puzzle is wrong"? – John Gordon Dec 31 '22 at 19:45

Basic "mate in one move" puzzle - what am I missing?

1 Answers1