Mate in 3: bishop to h5 (f3)
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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 f1, queen c1, rook a1 h1 h8, bishop f3 d4, knight e1 c3, pawn a2 b2 c2 g2 h2 f4.
Black: king f7, queen c7, rook a8, bishop a6 d8, knight d6, pawn c4 a7 b7 d7 e7.
15 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 14.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 14 points of material (42 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 f7.
It is White to move on move 14, with 53 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: d, e.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
14. Bh5+ Ke6 15. Rh6+ Kf5 16. g4#
Why it works
- Best move. bishop to h5 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — rook to h6 (#1).
- Precise: pawn to g4 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Ke6, then Rh6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 14. Bh5+ — bishop to h5 with check
- Ke6 — king to e6
- 15. Rh6+ — rook to h6 with check
- Kf5 — king to f5
- 16. g4# — pawn to g4 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Pawn mate
The humblest soldier delivers the final blow.
The pawn mate lets the humblest soldier land the final blow. It happens to a king stuck among its own and enemy pieces: the pawn strikes diagonally from one square away and there is nowhere left to run. The sign: the squares around the king are covered or occupied, and your pawn stands one step from striking distance. Never write pawns out of your attack — their blows are the cheapest and therefore the most humiliating.
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 #429.
SP-429 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on c1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 728.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 100 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: 0 centipawns for White (depth 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 50.0% (95% CI 36.6–63.4%).
Explore position #429Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-429
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