Mate in 3: rook to a4 (c4)
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 2121 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 a5, rook d5 g7, pawn f3 e4 b5.
Black: king c3, rook c4 b8, pawn e5 d6.
6 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 45.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (13 against 12; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on a5, the black king on c3.
It is Black to move on move 45, with 21 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, c, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: b, f.
The Black king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
45... Ra4+ 46. Kxa4 Ra8+ 47. Ra7 Rxa7#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to a4 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to a8 (#1).
- Strong! rook to a7 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kxa4, then Ra8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 45… Ra4+ — rook to a4 with check
- 46. Kxa4 — king to a4 (capture)
- Ra8+ — rook to a8 with check
- 47. Ra7 — rook to a7
- Rxa7# — rook to a7 (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.
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.
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 015
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