Mate in 3: queen to f6 (e7·2)
c9-25718naming 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 d1, queen e7, rook h1 c5, knight e4, pawn e2 g2 h2 f3 a4 d6.
Black: king d4, queen a6, rook c8, bishop a8 b8, pawn c6 f6 a7.
11 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 5 points of material (28 against 23; 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 d4.
It is White to move on move 29, with 47 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
29. Qxf6+ Ke3 30. Rc3+ Qd3+ 31. Rxd3#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to f6 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — rook to c3 (#1).
- Precise: rook to d3 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Ke3, then Rc3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 29. Qxf6+ — queen to f6 (capture) with check
- Ke3 — king to e3
- 30. Rc3+ — rook to c3 with check
- Qd3+ — queen to d3 with check
- 31. Rxd3# — rook to d3 (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.
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #736.
SP-736 · ThroneGuard — A centre-file king with no knight on the edge; a position and its mirror twin always share this family.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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 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 415.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 21 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +36 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #736Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-736
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads