Defend piece and avoid checkmate

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In this level, your opponent is attacking one of your pieces. You have to defend against the threat, and avoid a checkmate.

Examples

The rook on h4 is attacking Black's queen on h6. The queen has two safe squares: g6, and f6. 1...Qf6 would allow 2.Qxh7#. Therefore, Black has to defend with 1...Qg6.

The white queen is attacked by the pawn on f5. The queen has two safe squares available: f4 and e2. 1.Qe2? would be a mistake, as the queen would block the only escape square of White's king, and 1...Rh1# would be checkmate. 1.Qf4! is the only good defence. After 1...Rh1+, the White king could still escape to e2.

Visualization

In these avoid levels, you have to spot any threats of your opponent before your move, and also after your move. This is good practice so you don't fall in the traps set by your opponent.

If you don't spot the threat, or the line to be avoided, you can always check the solution page, which shows both.

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