Mate in 3: queen to e7 (h4·4)
c9-25258naming 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 h1, queen h4, rook f1, pawn a2 h2 f3 b4 d4 f4 g4 c5.
Black: king g6, queen e7, pawn h3 d5 c7.
11 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 36.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 10 points of material (22 against 12; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h1, the black king on g6.
It is White to move on move 36, with 25 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — 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
36. Qxe7 c6 37. Re1 Kh6 38. Re6#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to e7 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- rook to e1 develops smoothly.
- Precise: rook to e6 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead c6, then Re1 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 36. Qxe7 — queen to e7 (capture)
- c6 — pawn to c6
- 37. Re1 — rook to e1
- Kh6 — king to h6
- 38. Re6# — rook to e6 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Ladder mate
Two heavy pieces climb line by line, cutting off every retreat.
The ladder mate uses two heavy pieces climbing rung by rung: one cuts the king off along a line, the other checks on the next line, driving him toward the edge. It is the classic two-rook technique — check, the king retreats one rank, the other rook checks, until mate on the last rank. The only danger is the king creeping close enough to attack one of your rooks. If it does, simply slide that rook to the far side of the same line.
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 #259.
SP-259 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on f1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 595.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 98 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +3 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 47.0% (95% CI 33.9–60.6%).
Explore position #259Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-259
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