Mate in 3: rook to g5 (g8)
c9-24812naming 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 d1, rook b1 g8, bishop e1 d5, knight c3, pawn d2 c4 h4.
Black: king e5, rook a8, knight f4, pawn b3 c5 b7 d7 e7.
9 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 9 points of material (22 against 13; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on e5.
It is White to move on move 29, with 37 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, f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, e.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
29. Rg5+ Kd4 30. Nb5+ Kd3 31. Rxb3#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g5 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Spot on — knight to b5 (#1).
- Precise: rook to b3 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kd4, then Nb5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 29. Rg5+ — rook to g5 with check
- Kd4 — king to d4
- 30. Nb5+ — knight to b5 with check
- Kd3 — king to d3
- 31. Rxb3# — rook to b3 (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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #792.
SP-792 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and g1, 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 b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 173.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 2 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +55 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #792Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-792
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