Mate in 3: fork on e6
li-03xyIOpens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1868 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A fork is one piece attacking two targets at once. Look for a knight, pawn or queen move that lands where it hits the king (or a bigger piece) and a second undefended unit on the same turn — the opponent can save only one.
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 h2, rook g1, knight f4 e5, pawn h4 d5.
Black: king f8, queen f3, bishop a4 h8, knight e4, pawn c5 a6 d6 h6 e7.
6 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 38.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 10 points of material (13 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h2, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 38, with 30 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, c, e.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
38. Ne6+ Ke8 39. Rg8+ Qf8 40. Rxf8#
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e6 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to g8 (#1).
- Strong! rook to f8 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Ke8, then Rg8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 38. Ne6+ — knight to e6 with check
- Ke8 — king to e8
- 39. Rg8+ — rook to g8 with check
- Qf8 — queen to f8
- 40. Rxf8# — rook to f8 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Hook mate
Rook, knight and pawn form a hook the king cannot escape.
The hook mate is a three-piece construction: the rook mates, the knight guards the rook, and a pawn guards the knight. The rook strikes the king at close range along a line, the knight stands diagonally nearby stealing the escape squares, and the pawn anchors the chain. The pattern usually appears near the edge after a rook invasion. Build it link by link — first plant the knight under pawn protection, then crash in with the rook.
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 014
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads