Mate in 3: bishop to g5 (f4)
c9-10122naming 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 1760 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 f2, queen g3, rook a1 h1, bishop b1 f4, knight c4, pawn b2 e2 h3 a4 d5 h5.
Black: king e7, rook a8 g8, knight c6, pawn e6 a7 b7 d7 g7 h7.
13 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 15 points of material (34 against 19; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f2, the black king on e7.
It is White to move on move 21, with 61 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
21. Bg5+ Kf8 22. Qf3+ Ke8 23. Nd6#
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to g5 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Spot on — queen to f3 (#1).
- Precise: knight to d6 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kf8, then Qf3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21. Bg5+ — bishop to g5 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 22. Qf3+ — queen to f3 with check
- Ke8 — king to e8
- 23. Nd6# — knight to d6 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Knight mate
The knight lands the killing blow from its unique angle.
In a knight mate the final blow comes from the knight — the only piece whose check can never be blocked. That makes it lethal against a cramped king: only a king move or capturing the knight itself can help. The sign: the squares around the king are occupied or covered, and there is a hop from which the knight checks while staying untouchable. Bring the knight over early — it is slower than the long-range pieces, but its strike cannot be parried.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #788.
SP-788 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on d1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 174.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #788Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-788
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