Mate in 3: queen to f6 (f3·4)
li-03BKgnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 2477 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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, queen f3, rook a1 e1, bishop c1, knight d5, pawn a2 b2 f2 g2 h2 c3 d4 e6.
Black: king f8, queen d8, rook b8 h8, bishop d6 c8, knight g6 e7, pawn f6 a7 c7 g7 h7.
14 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (33 against 36; 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 f8.
It is White to move on move 19, with 42 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
19. Qxf6+ gxf6 20. Bh6+ Kg8 21. Nxf6#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f6 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: bishop to h6 (#1).
- Strong! knight to f6 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead gxf6, then Bh6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 19. Qxf6+ — queen to f6 (capture) with check
- gxf6 — pawn to f6 (capture)
- 20. Bh6+ — bishop to h6 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 21. Nxf6# — knight to f6 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Knight mate
The knight lands the killing blow from its unique angle.
In a knight mate the final blow comes from the knight — the only piece whose check can never be blocked. That makes it lethal against a cramped king: only a king move or capturing the knight itself can help. The sign: the squares around the king are occupied or covered, and there is a hop from which the knight checks while staying untouchable. Bring the knight over early — it is slower than the long-range pieces, but its strike cannot be parried.
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).
Pack 015
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads