Mate in 3: queen to g5 (e3·2)
li-03DIXnaming 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 2580 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 b1, queen e3, rook e1 g1, pawn a2 b2 f2 e4.
Black: king g8, queen c4, rook e8 f8, pawn a5 c5 g5 d6 h6 f7.
8 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (23 against 25; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: c, d, g, h.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Qxg5+ hxg5 25. Rxg5+ Kh8 26. Rh1#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g5 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to g5 (#1).
- Strong! rook to h1 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead hxg5, then Rxg5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 24. Qxg5+ — queen to g5 (capture) with check
- hxg5 — pawn to g5 (capture)
- 25. Rxg5+ — rook to g5 (capture) with check
- Kh8 — king to h8
- 26. Rh1# — rook to h1 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Ladder mate
Two heavy pieces climb line by line, cutting off every retreat.
The ladder mate uses two heavy pieces climbing rung by rung: one cuts the king off along a line, the other checks on the next line, driving him toward the edge. It is the classic two-rook technique — check, the king retreats one rank, the other rook checks, until mate on the last rank. The only danger is the king creeping close enough to attack one of your rooks. If it does, simply slide that rook to the far side of the same line.
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.
Corner mate
Driven into the corner, the king runs out of squares.
The corner mate catches a king driven into the corner, where it has only three neighboring squares — all of them taken away or blocked. The corner is the worst home for a king, because the attacker needs to control the fewest squares there. Herd the king toward the corner with checks and never let it slip back toward the center. Cut off the escape routes before the final check, and the mate practically assembles itself.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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