Mate in 3: pawn to c5 (c4)
c9-10952naming 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 g1, queen b1, rook e1 h4, bishop g6, knight b3 f3, pawn a2 f2 g2 b4 c4 g5.
Black: king d6, queen c7, rook d8 h8, bishop c8 f8, knight e8, pawn d5 h5 b6 c6 a7 g7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 34 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on d6.
It is White to move on move 17, with 54 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): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, h.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
17. c5+ bxc5 18. bxc5+ Kd7 19. Qf5#
Why it works
- Best move. pawn to c5 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — pawn to c5 (#1).
- Precise: queen to f5 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead bxc5, then bxc5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 17. c5+ — pawn to c5 with check
- bxc5 — pawn to c5 (capture)
- 18. bxc5+ — pawn to c5 (capture) with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 19. Qf5# — queen to f5 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
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 #118.
SP-118 · RampartScout — A knight in the corner and the king out on the wing (b/g); like every family, it is closed under mirror twins.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 838.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 94 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +10 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #118Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-118
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