Mate in 3: knight to e4 (c5)
c9-24481naming 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 g1, queen b7, rook c1 f1, bishop g2, knight c5, pawn d3 e3 f5.
Black: king d6, queen e7, rook f8, bishop e8, knight h6, pawn b5 e5 c6 g7 h7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (28 against 25; 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 d6.
It is White to move on move 35, with 41 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, c, g, h.
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
35. Ne4+ Kd5 36. Qxe7 Nxf5 37. Rc5#
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e4 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Spot on — queen to e7 (#1).
- Precise: rook to c5 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kd5, then Qxe7 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 35. Ne4+ — knight to e4 with check
- Kd5 — king to d5
- 36. Qxe7 — queen to e7 (capture)
- Nxf5 — knight to f5 (capture)
- 37. Rc5# — rook to c5 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Hook mate
Rook, knight and pawn form a hook the king cannot escape.
The hook mate is a three-piece construction: the rook mates, the knight guards the rook, and a pawn guards the knight. The rook strikes the king at close range along a line, the knight stands diagonally nearby stealing the escape squares, and the pawn anchors the chain. The pattern usually appears near the edge after a rook invasion. Build it link by link — first plant the knight under pawn protection, then crash in with the rook.
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 #794.
SP-794 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 165.
The engine's main line opens with e3.
Morozov Balance Index: 0 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +67 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 62.0% (95% CI 48.2–74.1%).
Explore position #794Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-794
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