Mate in 3: pin on g3
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Pin: a piece can't move without exposing something more valuable behind it.
Difficulty 2076 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.
A pin freezes a piece in front of a more valuable one behind it. Scan the ranks, files and diagonals your bishop, rook or queen controls: if an enemy piece cannot move without exposing its king or queen, it is pinned and can be piled on or bypassed.
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 f5, rook a1 e2, bishop g3, pawn b2 c2 f2 h2 a3 d3 e4.
Black: king h8, queen g4, rook g7 h7, bishop b6, pawn e5 d6 a7 b7 c7.
12 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (29 against 27; 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 h8.
It is Black to move on move 24, with 33 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: f, h.
The Black king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24... Qxg3+ 25. hxg3 Rxg3+ 26. Kf1 Rh1#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g3 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to g3 (#1).
- Strong! rook to h1 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead hxg3, then Rxg3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 24… Qxg3+ — queen to g3 (capture) with check
- 25. hxg3 — pawn to g3 (capture)
- Rxg3+ — rook to g3 (capture) with check
- 26. Kf1 — king to f1
- Rh1# — rook to h1 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.
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.
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 015
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