Mate in 3: bishop to e6 (c8·2)
c9-09539naming 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 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1860 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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.
In a mate in three every move must be forcing; the defender should never get a free tempo. Find the check or threat that herds the king, calculate the single defence to each, and confirm the net closes on the third move.
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 a2, queen d8, rook d1 d3, bishop c8, pawn c2 h2 c3 f4 a5 g5.
Black: king f7, rook b8, bishop c5, pawn h5 a6 g6 b7 e7.
11 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 15 points of material (28 against 13; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on a2, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 35, with 42 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, e.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
35. Be6+ Kg7 36. Qxb8 Bd6 37. Qg8#
Why it works
- Best move. bishop to e6 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — queen to b8 (#1).
- Precise: queen to g8 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kg7, then Qxb8 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 35. Be6+ — bishop to e6 with check
- Kg7 — king to g7
- 36. Qxb8 — queen to b8 (capture)
- Bd6 — bishop to d6
- 37. Qg8# — queen to g8 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Supported queen mate
The queen delivers mate face to face, protected by a friend.
The supported queen mate is the most common pattern of all: the queen lands next to the king and mates because a friendly piece or pawn protects her. The king is helpless — capturing is impossible, and the queen covers every neighboring square herself. Hunt for a protected square beside the enemy king: a knight, bishop or pawn eyeing it turns her invasion into mate. Verify one thing — that the square really is defended, or the king eats her.
Mate in 3
A forced checkmate in three moves.
Mate in three is a forced staircase: each of your moves narrows the opponent's choices, and the third one ends the game. Look for the start among checks and sacrifices — quiet first moves are rare in mating problems, but deliciously sneaky. Keep the tree in your head: every defense gets its own branch. Do not stop calculating after move two — see the final mating picture with your own eyes.
Discovered attack
A piece steps aside and opens a second attack from the piece behind it.
A discovered attack works like a curtain: one piece steps off the line and unveils the long-range piece behind it. The beauty is that the moving piece can create a second threat of its own — two attacks in one move. Look for your stacked pairs: a bishop or rook behind a knight or pawn, aimed through them at something valuable. Send the front piece to the most aggressive square — a discovery without a second threat wastes half its power.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #667.
SP-667 · BastionGuard — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and d1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 193.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 13 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +41 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #667Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-667
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