Mate in 3: rook to d1
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 988 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
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, rook b4 e4, pawn f2 g2 c3 h4 e5.
Black: king a5, rook d2 d7, pawn a4 e6 f7 g7 h7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 15 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on c1, the black king on a5.
It is Black to move on move 31, with 27 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c.
The Black king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31... Rd1+ 32. Kb2 R7d2+ 33. Ka3 Ra1#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d1 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to d2 (#1).
- Strong! rook to a1 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kb2, then R7d2+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 31… Rd1+ — rook to d1 with check
- 32. Kb2 — king to b2
- R7d2+ — rook to d2 with check
- 33. Ka3 — king to a3
- Ra1# — rook to a1 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.
Rook endgame
The most common endgame — activity decides everything.
The rook endgame is the most common of all: rooks and pawns on the board. Its first law is activity — a rook behind a passed pawn beats a rook passively babysitting one. The sign of a correct plan is that your rook is attacking something, not guarding something. The typical error is locking your rook into defense: it is often better to give up a pawn and keep your rook and king active.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 006
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