Mate in 3: queen to f7 (c4·2)
c9-26315naming 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 h2, queen c4, rook d1, bishop f2, knight g3, pawn a2 b2 g2 d6.
Black: king h7, queen d8, pawn g4 a5 f5 b6.
9 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 11 points of material (24 against 13; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h2, the black king on h7.
It is White to move on move 30, with 53 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): c, e, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
30. Qf7+ Kh6 31. Nxf5+ Kg5 32. Be3#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to f7 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — knight to f5 (#1).
- Precise: bishop to e3 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kh6, then Nxf5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 30. Qf7+ — queen to f7 with check
- Kh6 — king to h6
- 31. Nxf5+ — knight to f5 (capture) with check
- Kg5 — king to g5
- 32. Be3# — bishop to e3 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 #37.
SP-37 · RampartScout — A wing-file king (b or g) and at least one corner knight: the rarest of the six families, just 72 positions.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 922.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #37Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-37
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