Mate in 3: bishop to f5 (e4·3)
c9-27872naming 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 f2, queen a8, bishop c3 e4, knight f6, pawn h2 a3 b3 e5.
Black: king c8, queen f5, bishop b8, pawn b6 h6 f7.
9 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 7 points of material (22 against 15; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f2, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 33, with 8 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
33. Bxf5+ Kc7 34. Nd5+ Kd8 35. Qxb8#
Why it works
- Best move. bishop to f5 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — knight to d5 (#1).
- Precise: queen to b8 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kc7, then Nd5+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 33. Bxf5+ — bishop to f5 (capture) with check
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 34. Nd5+ — knight to d5 with check
- Kd8 — king to d8
- 35. Qxb8# — queen to b8 (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 #272.
SP-272 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on h1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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 f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 591.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 1 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +58 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 62.0% (95% CI 48.2–74.1%).
Explore position #272Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-272
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