Mate in 3: queen to g4 (h4)
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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 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.
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 e2, queen h4, rook g1 f2, bishop a1, knight g3, pawn a2 d2 g2 h2 e3 b5.
Black: king g8, bishop g4, pawn a5 d6 d7 g7 h7.
12 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 23 points of material (31 against 8; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 5 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
21. Qxg4 g6 22. Qc4+ d5 23. Qxd5#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to g4 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — queen to c4 (#1).
- Precise: queen to d5 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead g6, then Qc4+ and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 21. Qxg4 — queen to g4 (capture)
- g6 — pawn to g6
- 22. Qc4+ — queen to c4 with check
- d5 — pawn to d5
- 23. Qxd5# — queen to d5 (capture) 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.
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #593.
SP-593 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on c1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 267.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 99 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +2 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 49.0% (95% CI 35.7–62.4%).
Explore position #593Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-593
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