Mate in 3: pawn to f4 (e3·3)
c9-28088naming tag (square·N)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
Position on the board
White: king h2, queen c2, rook g1, bishop e2 f6, knight d7, pawn e3 f3 h4 e6.
Black: king h6, queen f4, rook e8, bishop a8, pawn b5 d5 h5 c7 f7.
10 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
Solution & explanation
Main line
30. exf4 Rg8 31. Rxg8 c5 32. Bg5#
Why it works
- Best move. pawn to f4 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — rook to g8 (#1).
- Precise: bishop to g5 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Rg8, then Rxg8 and you win the queen.
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 #114.
SP-114 · RampartGuard — King on the wing (b/g) with both knights on inner files.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on c1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 839.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 93 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +11 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #114Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-114
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