Mate in 3: knight to b4 (c6)
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1936 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
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 c1, queen h7, rook d1 h1, knight d2, pawn a2 b2 c3 e3 f4 g5.
Black: king e7, queen d3, rook b8, knight c6 g6, pawn d5 e6 a7 b7 f7 g7.
11 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (28 against 26; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on e7.
It is Black to move on move 27, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c.
The Black king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
27... Nb4 28. cxb4 Rc8+ 29. Nc4 Rxc4#
Why it works
- Great move! knight to b4 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to c8 (#1).
- Strong! rook to c4 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead cxb4, then Rc8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 27… Nb4 — knight to b4
- 28. cxb4 — pawn to b4 (capture)
- Rc8+ — rook to c8 with check
- 29. Nc4 — knight to c4
- Rxc4# — rook to c4 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Ladder mate
Two heavy pieces climb line by line, cutting off every retreat.
The ladder mate uses two heavy pieces climbing rung by rung: one cuts the king off along a line, the other checks on the next line, driving him toward the edge. It is the classic two-rook technique — check, the king retreats one rank, the other rook checks, until mate on the last rank. The only danger is the king creeping close enough to attack one of your rooks. If it does, simply slide that rook to the far side of the same line.
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 014
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