Mate in 3: bishop to f6 (e5·3)
li-03cqTnaming 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 1825 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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.
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 h4, rook f1, knight f5, pawn g2 g4.
Black: king g6, rook b3, bishop e5, pawn a7 h7.
5 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 44.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 10 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h4, the black king on g6.
It is Black to move on move 44, with 33 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c, d, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: g.
The Black king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
44... Bf6+ 45. g5 Bxg5+ 46. Kg4 h5#
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to f6 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: bishop to g5 (#1).
- Strong! pawn to h5 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead g5, then Bxg5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 44… Bf6+ — bishop to f6 with check
- 45. g5 — pawn to g5
- Bxg5+ — bishop to g5 (capture) with check
- 46. Kg4 — king to g4
- h5# — pawn to h5 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Pawn mate
The humblest soldier delivers the final blow.
The pawn mate lets the humblest soldier land the final blow. It happens to a king stuck among its own and enemy pieces: the pawn strikes diagonally from one square away and there is nowhere left to run. The sign: the squares around the king are covered or occupied, and your pawn stands one step from striking distance. Never write pawns out of your attack — their blows are the cheapest and therefore the most humiliating.
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.
Breakthrough
A pawn sacrifice tears the chain open and lets a passer through.
A breakthrough is a pawn sacrifice that rips the opponent's chain open and creates an unstoppable passer. Look for it where the pawns are locked against each other: often two pawns are given up so the third one slips through. Check the square rule — can the enemy king catch the new passer? If not, sacrifice with confidence; the classic error is breaking through while his king stands right there eating everything.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 013
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