Mate in 3: queen to f2 (f6·3)
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1557 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
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 g1, queen g4, rook f1 a7, pawn a2 f2 g2 h2 b3.
Black: king g8, queen f6, rook e2 f8, pawn d4 h6 g7.
9 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 38.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (24 against 22; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 38, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: a, b, f.
The Black king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
38... Qxf2+ 39. Rxf2 Re1+ 40. Rf1 Rexf1#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f2 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to e1 (#1).
- Precise: rook to f1 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Rxf2, then Re1+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 38… Qxf2+ — queen to f2 (capture) with check
- 39. Rxf2 — rook to f2 (capture)
- Re1+ — rook to e1 with check
- 40. Rf1 — rook to f1
- Rexf1# — rook to f1 (capture) 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.
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.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
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