Mate in 3: queen to f6 (e5)
c9-20189naming 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 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 e1, queen e5, rook h1, bishop d5, pawn d2 f2 f3 f4 b5.
Black: king d8, rook g8, bishop c8, pawn h4 a5 h5 d7 f7.
9 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 9 points of material (22 against 13; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, h.
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
28. Qf6+ Kc7 29. b6+ Kb8 30. Qd6#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f6 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: pawn to b6 (#1).
- Precise: queen to d6 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kc7, then b6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 28. Qf6+ — queen to f6 with check
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 29. b6+ — pawn to b6 with check
- Kb8 — king to b8
- 30. Qd6# — queen to d6 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 #677.
SP-677 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on a1.
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 c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 474.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #677Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-677
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