Mate in 3: bishop to h6 (g5)
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1633 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White 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, rook e1, bishop g5, knight a3 h8, pawn a2 b2 g2 h2.
Black: king f8, rook a8, bishop d5, knight d7 b8, pawn d4 a7 c7 h7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 22.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 18 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 22, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c, d.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
22. Bh6+ Kg8 23. Re8+ Nf8 24. Rxf8#
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to h6 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to e8 (#1).
- Strong! rook to f8 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kg8, then Re8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 22. Bh6+ — bishop to h6 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 23. Re8+ — rook to e8 with check
- Nf8 — knight to f8
- 24. Rxf8# — rook to f8 (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.
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 013
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