Mate in 3: queen to e7 (c5·4)
c9-23848naming 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 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 b2, queen c5, rook h1 a5, bishop d3 e5, pawn h2 b3 d4 a6 c7.
Black: king c8, rook e7 a8, knight e3, pawn g4 h5 g6.
11 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 14 points of material (30 against 16; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b2, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 33, with 51 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): e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
33. Qxe7 Nc4+ 34. Bxc4 h4 35. Be6#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to e7 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — bishop to c4 (#1).
- Precise: bishop to e6 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Nc4+, then Bxc4 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 33. Qxe7 — queen to e7 (capture)
- Nc4+ — knight to c4 with check
- 34. Bxc4 — bishop to c4 (capture)
- h4 — pawn to h4
- 35. Be6# — bishop to e6 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 #936.
SP-936 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and d1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 29.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 11 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +42 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #936Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-936
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