Mate in 3: fork on e3
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 2260 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A fork is one piece attacking two targets at once. Look for a knight, pawn or queen move that lands where it hits the king (or a bigger piece) and a second undefended unit on the same turn — the opponent can save only one.
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 f3, queen f7, rook g1, knight f6, pawn a3 c3 b4 f5.
Black: king h8, rook e2 e8, knight d3, pawn a6 h6 b7.
8 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 36.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 5 points of material (21 against 16; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f3, the black king on h8.
It is Black to move on move 36, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c, f.
The Black king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
36... R8e3+ 37. Kg4 Ne5+ 38. Kh5 Rh2#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e3 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: knight to e5 (#1).
- Precise: rook to h2 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kg4, then Ne5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 36… R8e3+ — rook to e3 with check
- 37. Kg4 — king to g4
- Ne5+ — knight to e5 with check
- 38. Kh5 — king to h5
- Rh2# — rook to h2 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.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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