Mate in 3: pawn to d7 (d6·4)
c9-23053naming 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 1760 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 g1, rook e1 g3, bishop c1, knight f7, pawn a2 b2 g2 c3 d6 e6 g6.
Black: king e8, rook g7 h8, bishop c2, pawn b6 a7.
12 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 8 points of material (23 against 15; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 31 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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. d7+ Ke7 28. Bg5+ Kf8 29. d8=Q#
Why it works
- Best move. pawn to d7 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — bishop to g5 (#1).
- Precise: pawn to d8 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Ke7, then Bg5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 27. d7+ — pawn to d7 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 28. Bg5+ — bishop to g5 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 29. d8=Q# — pawn to d8 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Promotion mate
The pawn promotes — and the new piece mates on the spot.
In a promotion mate the pawn takes its final step and the newborn piece mates on the spot. Sometimes the hero is a knight rather than a queen — it checks from the promotion square in a way no queen can. The sign: the enemy king lingers near the promotion square while your pieces already control its escape routes. When counting pawn races, always check whether the promotion itself is mate — that gains you a full tempo in the evaluation.
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.
Promotion
The pawn reaches the last rank and becomes a queen — decisively.
Promotion turns a pawn on the last rank into a queen and rewrites the evaluation on the spot. In tactics the passer rarely walks in for free — usually a sacrifice clears its path. Count the tempi: how many moves does the pawn need, and can the defender stop it in time? And watch the promotion square itself — it must be out of enemy reach or won by force in your combination.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #180.
SP-180 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on f1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on h1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2, f2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 782.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 92 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +12 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #180Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-180
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