Mate in 3: rook to g3 (g1·3)
c9-28093naming 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 h1, queen e5, rook g1, bishop h8, knight c5, pawn e2 h2 b4 f4 e6.
Black: king f8, queen b5, rook a8, bishop c6, knight g3, pawn e4 d5 h5 a7 e7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 25 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h1, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 3 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 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
27. Rxg3 Qxe2 28. Qg7+ Ke8 29. Qg8#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g3 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Spot on — queen to g7 (#1).
- Precise: queen to g8 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Qxe2, then Qg7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 27. Rxg3 — rook to g3 (capture)
- Qxe2 — queen to e2 (capture)
- 28. Qg7+ — queen to g7 with check
- Ke8 — king to e8
- 29. Qg8# — queen to g8 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 #107.
SP-107 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on a1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
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 BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 849.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 34 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +31 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #107Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-107
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