Mate in 3: bishop to d5 (c4·2)
c9-25959naming 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 b1, queen b7, rook c3, bishop e1 c4, pawn b2 c2 e4 h4.
Black: king e6, queen d5, rook a8, knight c8, pawn a4 h5 d6 g6.
9 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 40.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (24 against 21; 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 e6.
It is White to move on move 40, with 42 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d, g.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
40. Bxd5+ Ke5 41. Bg3+ Kd4 42. Qg7#
Why it works
- Best move. bishop to d5 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — bishop to g3 (#1).
- Precise: queen to g7 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Ke5, then Bg3+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 40. Bxd5+ — bishop to d5 (capture) with check
- Ke5 — king to e5
- 41. Bg3+ — bishop to g3 with check
- Kd4 — king to d4
- 42. Qg7# — queen to g7 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.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #747.
SP-747 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on f1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 401.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #747Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-747
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