Mate in 3: queen to d6 (c5·4)
c9-16901naming 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 1980 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 c3, queen c5, rook f1, pawn a2 d2 e2 h2 b3 c4.
Black: king e8, queen a8, knight h1, pawn a5 d6 e6 b7 h7.
9 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (20 against 17; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c3, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 46 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): f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
24. Qxd6 Nf2 25. Rxf2 a4 26. Rf8#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to d6 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — rook to f2 (#1).
- Precise: rook to f8 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Nf2, then Rxf2 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 24. Qxd6 — queen to d6 (capture)
- Nf2 — knight to f2
- 25. Rxf2 — rook to f2 (capture)
- a4 — pawn to a4
- 26. Rf8# — rook to f8 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 #303.
SP-303 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and e1, the queen on a1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 368.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 8 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +45 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #303Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-303
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