Mate in 3: queen to d5 (a5·2)
c9-17625naming 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 f2, queen a5, rook c6, pawn b2 b3 c3 e3 f4 g4.
Black: king e8, rook f8, knight d5, pawn e4 f5 g6 a7 e7 h7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 6 points of material (20 against 14; 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 e8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 33 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): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, h.
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
28. Qxd5 e5 29. Qe6+ Kd8 30. Rc8#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d5 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Spot on — queen to e6 (#1).
- Precise: rook to c8 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead e5, then Qe6+ and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 28. Qxd5 — queen to d5 (capture)
- e5 — pawn to e5
- 29. Qe6+ — queen to e6 with check
- Kd8 — king to d8
- 30. Rc8# — rook to c8 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 #223.
SP-223 · ThroneScout — A central king (d or e), but with a knight posted out on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on b1.
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.
The pawn on d2, e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 640.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #223Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-223
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