Exercises with solutions

Qxf7#: the queen captures the pawn on f7. It is the only move that gives checkmate.

Why

• The queen attacks the black king and is protected by the white bishop: the king cannot capture it.
• The squares around the king are occupied by its own pieces or controlled by the queen.
• To avoid this with Black: watch the f7 square, which only the king protects early in the game.

Ra8#: the rook moves up to the last rank. It is the only move that gives checkmate.

Why

• The black king is boxed in by its own three pawns, which stayed in front of it.
• The rook attacks the whole rank: the king has no free square and no piece can block.
• To guard against it: advance a pawn in front of your castled king to give it an escape square.

No: the game is a draw by stalemate. Black has no legal move, but their king is not in check.

Why

• Checkmate: the king is in check and no move gets it out. Stalemate: no legal move, without check.
• Stalemate is a draw, not a win: the app ends the game immediately.
• When you are far ahead, check before every move that your opponent still has at least one legal move.

exf6, an en passant capture: the white pawn goes to f6 and removes the black pawn on f5. The capture exd6 is not allowed.

Why

• A pawn that advances two squares and stops next to an enemy pawn can be captured as if it had advanced only one square.
• This capture is only possible on the very next move, never later: the black pawn on d5 arrived earlier.

Only queenside castling, O-O-O. Kingside castling, O-O, is not allowed: the king would pass through f1, which the black rook attacks.

Why

• To castle, the king must not be in check, must not pass through an attacked square, and must not land on an attacked square.
• The rook, however, can pass through an attacked square: only the king's path matters.

f8=Q: with a queen, Black has no moves left and the game is a draw by stalemate. The other promotions let the game continue.

Why

• The promoted pawn becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight, as you choose: f8=Q, f8=R, f8=B, f8=N.
• The queen is most often the best choice, but not always: here, it takes away the black king's last squares.
• With a rook, the black king keeps at least one free square and White is still a rook up.