Mate in 3: rook to c6 (c4)
c9-21863naming 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 1860 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 a1, queen c8, rook a2 c4, pawn e2 h2 d3 a4.
Black: king d6, queen b3, rook g2 b4, bishop f6, knight f4, pawn e5 h5.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (23 against 27; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on a1, the black king on d6.
It is White to move on move 31, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c, f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31. Rc6+ Ke7 32. Rc7+ Kd6 33. Qd7#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to c6 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to c7 (#1).
- Precise: queen to d7 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Ke7, then Rc7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 31. Rc6+ — rook to c6 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 32. Rc7+ — rook to c7 with check
- Kd6 — king to d6
- 33. Qd7# — queen to d7 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Ladder mate
Two heavy pieces climb line by line, cutting off every retreat.
The ladder mate uses two heavy pieces climbing rung by rung: one cuts the king off along a line, the other checks on the next line, driving him toward the edge. It is the classic two-rook technique — check, the king retreats one rank, the other rook checks, until mate on the last rank. The only danger is the king creeping close enough to attack one of your rooks. If it does, simply slide that rook to the far side of the same line.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
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 #747.
SP-747 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on f1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 401.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #747Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-747
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