Mate in 3: knight to e4
c9-10470Opens 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 1630 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 c2, queen a8, bishop a7, knight a1 f2, pawn d2 b3 c3 g3.
Black: king a6, queen e4, bishop a3, pawn b4 c6 d6 g7.
9 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 6 points of material (22 against 16; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c2, the black king on a6.
It is White to move on move 29, with 4 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, e, f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
29. Nxe4 c5 30. Bxc5+ Kb5 31. Qa4#
Why it works
- Best move. knight to e4 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — bishop to c5 (#1).
- Precise: queen to a4 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead c5, then Bxc5+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 29. Nxe4 — knight to e4 (capture)
- c5 — pawn to c5
- 30. Bxc5+ — bishop to c5 (capture) with check
- Kb5 — king to b5
- 31. Qa4# — queen to a4 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.
Relative pin
A piece shields a more valuable one behind it — moving it loses material.
In a relative pin the piece shields not its king but something valuable behind it, usually the queen. Moving is legal but costly, because the piece behind falls. Look for three units on one line: your long-range piece, a cheaper enemy piece, and an expensive one hiding behind. Beware the classic trap — a relatively pinned piece can still move with check or a bigger threat, so verify before you cash in.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #350.
SP-350 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 324.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #350Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-350
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