Mate in 3: rook to f6 (f1·3)
c9-28156naming 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 d1, rook a1 f1, bishop c3, knight d2 e6, pawn a2 e2 h2 b3 g3 c4 d5.
Black: king g8, bishop b5, pawn f6 g6 h7.
13 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 20 points of material (26 against 6; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 29, with 41 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 3. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: f.
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
29. Rxf6 h6 30. Rf8+ Kh7 31. Rh8#
Why it works
- Best move. rook to f6 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- Spot on — rook to f8 (#1).
- Precise: rook to h8 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead h6, then Rf8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 29. Rxf6 — rook to f6 (capture)
- h6 — pawn to h6
- 30. Rf8+ — rook to f8 with check
- Kh7 — king to h7
- 31. Rh8# — rook to h8 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 #661.
SP-661 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on h1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 202.
The engine's main line opens with Nc3, bringing the knight out to c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #661Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 012 · SP-661
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