Mate in 2: queen to f8 (h6·2)
c9-02831naming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Chess960 twist: use the unusual starting setup of the pieces.
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
Difficulty 1450 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
In Chess960 the pieces start on unfamiliar squares, so tactics appear earlier and from unusual angles. Do not trust classical patterns — read the actual lines of the bishops, the rooks and the queen from where they really stand in this position.
Mate in two usually opens with a forcing move — a check, a capture or an unstoppable threat — that strips the king of squares or defenders, so the follow-up mate becomes unavoidable. Look for the first move that leaves the opponent only losing replies.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
General method: before you move, list the forcing candidates — every check, every capture, every direct threat — and calculate those first. The solution to a tactic is almost always among them.
Position on the board
White: king e1, queen h6, rook d1 f1, bishop b1 g1, knight c1 e6, pawn a2 d2 e2 g2 h2 b3 c3 f3.
Black: king e8, queen b8, rook d8 h8, bishop d6 f7, knight g6 c8, pawn c5 f6 a7 b7 d7 e7 h7.
16 white and 15 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 10.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (39 against 38; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 10, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
10. Qf8+ Nxf8 11. Ng7#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to f8 is exactly what the engine plays (#1).
- Well found: knight to g7 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Nxf8, then Ng7# and it is mate.
Move by move
- 10. Qf8+ — queen to f8 with check
- Nxf8 — knight to f8 (capture)
- 11. Ng7# — knight to g7 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Smothered mate
The king is buried under its own pieces — only a knight can reach it.
The smothered mate suffocates a king buried under its own army: every neighboring square is blocked by friendly pieces, and the knight — needing no open lines — delivers the blow. The classic mechanism: knight check, king hides in the corner, a queen sacrifice forces a rook to plug the last hole, and the knight mates. Look for a cornered king surrounded by its own pieces and a knight one hop away. Do not mourn the queen — she only opens the door.
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
Mate in 2
A forced checkmate in two moves.
Mate in two: your move, any reply, then the mating blow. Start with the most forcing first moves — checks and sacrifices that shrink the opponent's options to almost nothing. Against every single reply you must have a mate ready, so check them all without exception. The common failure is analyzing the pretty defense and forgetting the boring one.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #300.
SP-300 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and f1, the queen on a1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 380.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 98 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: 0 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 53.0% (95% CI 39.5–66.1%).
Explore position #300Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011 · SP-300
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