Mate in 3: bishop to e4 (h1·5)
c9-22257naming 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 d2, queen c7, rook f5, bishop h1, knight f1, pawn e2 f2 h2 c3 d3 a4 f4.
Black: king e8, bishop h8, pawn e4 c6 h7.
12 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 21 points of material (27 against 6; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d2, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
25. Bxe4 Bf6 26. Rxf6 c5 27. Bc6#
Why it works
- Best move. bishop to e4 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — rook to f6 (#1).
- Precise: bishop to c6 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Bf6, then Rxf6 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 25. Bxe4 — bishop to e4 (capture)
- Bf6 — bishop to f6
- 26. Rxf6 — rook to f6 (capture)
- c5 — pawn to c5
- 27. Bc6# — bishop to c6 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 #683.
SP-683 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on a1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
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: e2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 465.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 13 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +41 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #683Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-683
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