Mate in 3: pawn to b3 (a2)
c9-24975naming 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 b1, queen e5, rook c1, bishop b7, pawn a2 d2 f2 e3 b5 g5.
Black: king d8, queen b3, rook g8, pawn d4 g6 a7 d7 f7.
10 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 4 points of material (23 against 19; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 2 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, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
27. axb3 d5 28. Qd6+ Ke8 29. Rc8#
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to b3 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Spot on — queen to d6 (#1).
- Precise: rook to c8 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead d5, then Qd6+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 27. axb3 — pawn to b3 (capture)
- d5 — pawn to d5
- 28. Qd6+ — queen to d6 with check
- Ke8 — king to e8
- 29. Rc8# — rook to c8 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 #560.
SP-560 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on h1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
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 ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 495.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +46 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #560Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-560
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