Mate in 3: queen to h5 (d5)
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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 f2, queen d5, bishop d6, knight e7, pawn e2 h4.
Black: king h8, rook g7, knight a2, pawn c5 h5 b6 f6 a7.
6 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 4 points of material (17 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 f2, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, b, c, f.
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
28. Qxh5+ Rh7 29. Qe8+ Kg7 30. Nf5#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to h5 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — queen to e8 (#1).
- Precise: knight to f5 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Rh7, then Qe8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 28. Qxh5+ — queen to h5 (capture) with check
- Rh7 — rook to h7
- 29. Qe8+ — queen to e8 with check
- Kg7 — king to g7
- 30. Nf5# — knight to f5 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Knight mate
The knight lands the killing blow from its unique angle.
In a knight mate the final blow comes from the knight — the only piece whose check can never be blocked. That makes it lethal against a cramped king: only a king move or capturing the knight itself can help. The sign: the squares around the king are occupied or covered, and there is a hop from which the knight checks while staying untouchable. Bring the knight over early — it is slower than the long-range pieces, but its strike cannot be parried.
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 #464.
SP-464 · BastionGuard — A c- or f-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on f1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on h1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 687.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #464Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-464
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