Mate in 3: queen to e5 (e6)
c9-22433naming 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.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
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.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
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 f1, queen e6, rook f2 a5, bishop g1, knight b5 f7, pawn b2 c2 d2 f4 f5.
Black: king b8, queen h1, rook c8 e8, bishop b7, knight f6, pawn h5 a7 e7.
12 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 5 points of material (33 against 28; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f1, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 47 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, e, h.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
27. Qe5+ Rc7 28. Qxc7+ Ka8 29. Rxa7#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e5 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: queen to c7 (#1).
- Precise: rook to a7 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Rc7, then Qxc7+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 27. Qe5+ — queen to e5 with check
- Rc7 — rook to c7
- 28. Qxc7+ — queen to c7 (capture) with check
- Ka8 — king to a8
- 29. Rxa7# — rook to a7 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Arabian mate
Rook and knight — the oldest mate: the rook strikes next to the cornered king.
The Arabian mate is the oldest named pattern: the king is driven into the corner and the rook mates right next to it, guarded by a knight. The geometry is exact: king on h8, rook striking from h7, knight on f6 both protecting the rook and covering g8. The knight is irreplaceable — only it can guard the rook at point-blank range and hold the escape square at once. Look for the pattern when your knight is anchored two steps from the enemy corner.
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
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 #477.
SP-477 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on h1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 680.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #477Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-477
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads