Back-rank mate in 3 on f2 (f5)
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The tactical motive
Back rank: the king is trapped behind its own pawns — use that.
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1126 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A back-rank mate strikes when the king is boxed in by its own pawns and the back rank is under-defended. Check whether a rook or queen can reach the first rank with check and whether the only defender can be deflected or overloaded.
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 e5, rook a1 e1, bishop c1, knight d5, pawn a2 b2 c2 g2 h2 c5.
Black: king d8, queen f5, rook a8 f8, bishop c8, pawn a7 b7 c7 d7 g7 h7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (31 against 28; 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 d8.
It is Black to move on move 17, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
17... Qf2+ 18. Kh1 Qf1+ 19. Rxf1 Rxf1#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f2 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: queen to f1 (#1).
- Strong! rook to f1 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kh1, then Qf1+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 17… Qf2+ — queen to f2 with check
- 18. Kh1 — king to h1
- Qf1+ — queen to f1 with check
- 19. Rxf1 — rook to f1 (capture)
- Rxf1# — rook to f1 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Back-rank mate
The king is locked behind its own pawns — a heavy piece strikes the last rank.
The back-rank mate strikes a king locked behind its own unmoved pawns when a rook or queen crashes onto the last rank. The signs: no escape hole in front of the king, and the back rank guarded by a single piece or by nobody at all. Often that lone guard is deflected or traded off first, and only then comes the invasion. In your own games, make luft in time — one pawn move prevents a sudden catastrophe.
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.
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 007
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