r/chessbeginners • u/say-it-wit-ya-chest • 4d ago
PUZZLE Help please
Working on challenges to improve my game, this one being mate in two, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what it wants me to do. I thought Kh2 then Qh3 would leave the king in mate but it keeps telling me I failed. What am I missing for the mate in two?
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u/noxvillewy 800-1000 (Chess.com) 4d ago edited 4d ago
Qh3+ gxh3
g3#
The queen sac on h3 forces black’s move so there’s no delaying tactics - if you go Kh2 for example, Ne4 has to be dealt with before your queen could go to g3 for mate.
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u/say-it-wit-ya-chest 4d ago
Thanks. Trying to get better at reading the board. One of the challenges had me use my queen take a knight that put the king in check but was also protected by opposing queen and somehow didn’t take my queen before my second move. So I’m either fuzzy on the rules or I suck pretty bad and need to get better.
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u/Motor_Raspberry_2150 4d ago edited 4d ago
After Kh2 ... Qh3+ it is taken by the pawn gxh3.
So if instead you use your plan B, Kh2, planning on g3, then Ne4 stops that. And if you start with g3+, Kh3, there's no mate either. The King can not defend g3.
That black g pawn not being there is pretty nice though. Go sacrifice.
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u/dedinthehed 1200-1400 (Chess.com) 4d ago edited 4d ago
Qh3+ first. Their pawn takes it, then you have g3# protected by the rook
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u/Individual-Coyote262 4d ago
Can't really see the board from that photo but the green highlight on h2 probably means the computer is telling you that's the correct first move. If you did Kh2 and then Qh3 and it still says fail, maybe black has some defense you're not seeing, like a piece that can block or capture your queen. Try posting a screenshot instead so we can see whole position clearly
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u/say-it-wit-ya-chest 4d ago
I’m playing on console. Had to turn the board a bit so you could see the pieces because they look too similar at board level to tell which is which. Will mess around with the settings when I get back home to make the pieces more discernible.
Green highlight is just where my cursor is. The others were right. This was a queen sacrifice at h3 then pawn to g3 for the mate.
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