Mate in 3: knight to e6 (d4)
c9-21250naming 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 c2, queen f2, rook b1 h7, bishop f3, knight d4 d7, pawn c3 g3 a4 c4 e4.
Black: king d8, rook a8, knight h8, pawn a5 f5 b6 g6 b7.
12 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 20 points of material (33 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 c2, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 58 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): d, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, f.
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. Ne6+ Kc8 29. Qxb6 Ra6 30. Qxb7#
Why it works
- Best move. knight to e6 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — queen to b6 (#1).
- Precise: queen to b7 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kc8, then Qxb6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 28. Ne6+ — knight to e6 with check
- Kc8 — king to c8
- 29. Qxb6 — queen to b6 (capture)
- Ra6 — rook to a6
- 30. Qxb7# — queen to b7 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Anastasia's mate
Knight and rook trap the king against the edge of the board.
Anastasia's mate is a knight-and-rook duet at the edge of the board. The knight steals the king's escape squares while the rook mates along the edge file or rank. The textbook picture: a knight on e7 covers g8 and g6, the king's own pawn on g7 blocks the third exit, the king sits on h7 — and the rook mates down the h-file. Watch for it whenever the enemy king hugs the edge; a queen sacrifice on the edge file often clears the way for the rook.
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #361.
SP-361 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-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 313.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #361Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-361
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