Mate in 3: queen to f5 (d7·3)
c9-25240naming 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 e1, queen d7, rook b4, bishop a3, knight b7, pawn d2 e2 c3 a4 e5.
Black: king h7, rook h8, bishop d6, pawn f5 h6 g7.
10 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 14 points of material (25 against 11; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on h7.
It is White to move on move 23, with 40 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): b — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f, 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
23. Qxf5+ Kg8 24. Nxd6 h5 25. Rb8#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to f5 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — knight to d6 (#1).
- Precise: rook to b8 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kg8, then Nxd6 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 23. Qxf5+ — queen to f5 (capture) with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 24. Nxd6 — knight to d6 (capture)
- h5 — pawn to h5
- 25. Rb8# — rook to b8 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.
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #262.
SP-262 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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 c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 598.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Morozov Balance Index: 9 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +43 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 56.0% (95% CI 42.3–68.8%).
Explore position #262Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-262
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